CFMMEU pay dispute warning from Master Builders Association
Builders are warning major works like the new Sydney Fish Market and economy-saving spending from the NSW Government are at risk if the construction union’s pay demands get the green light.
NSW
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A simmering war over pay and conditions between builders and the construction union is threatening to undo the economy-saving spending put in place by the NSW Government.
The Master Builders Association is warning that the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union’s demand for a 15 per cent pay rise will add millions to the cost of major projects.
“This is a direct gouge of the NSW taxpayer,” Master Builders Association NSW Executive Director Brian Seidler said.
“The NSW Government is trying to plug the gap left by the coronavirus pandemic and these guys are just gouging the money,” he said.
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Major builders have said no to the new enterprise agreement that would see pay and conditions go up by 25 per cent over three years and bring in enforced rostered days off that would close work sites every other Monday.
“Builders have had a gut full and are saying no to the union for the first time in 30 years,” Mr Seidler said.
He warned that if the builders “crumble” and give in to the union the cost of major projects would go up by 10 per cent – adding, for example, another $75 million to the cost of the new Sydney Fish Market and $70 million to the cost of the new Shellharbour hospital.
Last week the dispute saw 200 workers walk off a job in the centre of Sydney because of safety concerns over three blocked toilets that Mr Seidler said were deliberately sabotaged.
“This is the construction division of the same union that is trying to shut our ports,” he said.
NSW Finance Minister Damien Tudehope said: “Now more than ever we need to be working together to increase productivity and get projects and jobs firing in NSW.
“The NSW Government has billions of dollars of infrastructure in the pipeline. The demands by the CFMMEU puts this at risk and the thousands of jobs attached to it.
“The union needs to take a good hard look at itself here on this issue because it appears to be using the pandemic as an opportunity to engage in industrial espionage,” he said.
But CFMMEU state secretary Darren Greenfield said the NSW Master Builders calculations on the cost of the deal were grossly inflated “by applying every possible loading and site allowance and by suggesting that workers would be on the job for up to 80 hours per week.”
Instead he said the organisation was pushing an agreement that would drive down wages and remove conditions construction workers have had for years.
He said an agreement suggested by the Master Builders had been put to workers and rejected. “NSW construction workers are not mugs. They know a bad deal when they see it, and they won‘t support an agreement that winds back conditions and leaves them financially worse off,” he said.
Mr Greenfield said the union had already successfully negotiated with more than 250 subcontractors to bring in the new agreement for better pay and conditions. “Those workers directly employed by builders deserve the same pay and conditions as their workmates who are employed by subbies,” he said.