CFMEU protest: March against federal govt appointing administrators, standing down 300 officials
Thousands of CFMEU members stormed Brisbane’s CBD, carrying anti-government messages and vowing to fight back in a mass rally on Tuesday.
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Thousands of angry CFMEU workers stormed Brisbane’s CBD on Tuesday, led by ousted leaders who were removed from their posts by government administrators in a move that has sparked mass protests.
Former state secretary Michael Ravbar, and assistant secretaries Kane Lowth and Jade Ingham arrived in Queens Gardens just before the 11am rally began and mingled with members near the stage before leading speeches.
Mr Ravbar urged the members to vote against “puppet” Premier Steven Miles at Queensland’s October election.
“What a joke of a leader,” he said.
“Don’t forget he also chose to screw over the Queensland branch … a puppet for Albanese.
“You’ll have that opportunity in less than two months.
“Vote on your feet.”
Mr Ravbar reassured the crowd that the CFMEU would fight the administration, particularly in Queensland where there had been no criminal or corruption allegations.
“We’ve had plenty of criminality in the regard to bad characters, bad developers and the builders,” he said.
He said he would launch a High Court challenge as part of a campaign starting Tuesday.
“What we are going to do, we are launching a campaign here today called your union, your choice,” he told the crowd.
“What that campaign will do is, we will launch a High Court challenge as a matter of urgency and I’ll be the applicant.
“Also, we will be having a fundraising platform campaign and that will be launched tomorrow.
“We’ve got to get control of our union back, we will never let the government take over again.”
Premier Steven Miles said the CFMEU had a right to protest, but noted Queensland’s construction sites had for too long had incidents of violence and intimidation.
“That’s why the Australian government has acted by appointing an administrator to the state registered entity. We passed those laws last week,” he said.
“We want to see construction workers in Queensland have a strong trade union that keeps them safe and delivers fair wages and conditions for them.
“But we want to see one that operates legally and without the kind of bullying and intimidation that we’ve seen recently.”
Mr Ravbar said he may not be their leader but he will lead their campaign.
“You people are hard working, decent people.
“These issues of criminality and bikies and all this other f***ing rubbish … don’t listen to that.”
He also lashed out at Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for being “anti-unionist” with a “glass jaw” and directed members to vote Labor out at the upcoming federal election
Speaking to the masses, before leading a chant of “what do we do when we’re under attack, stand up, fight back”, Mr Ingham said there could be up to 50,000 members who undertake unprotected strike action as part of Tuesday’s protest.
“I’m an unemployed person, so I don’t have any worries right now, but the workers will exercise their democratic rights and their democratic freedoms,” he said.
“They’ll make their own decision.”
Mr Ingham said he didn’t need to tell his members not to vote for Labor, but it was “really clear who their enemies are now”.
Asked if he would now vote LNP over Labor, he said “Never. I’ll never vote for either,” before issuing a direct threat to the Albanese government.
“You’ve just committed the greatest attacks of treachery against the working class in this country’s history, and you will pay,” he said.
While some CFMEU members went home after the rally in Brisbane’s CBD, others decided to head to the local pub for lunch.
Multiple union members were seen lining up at the bar inside the Port Office Hotel and Restaurant by 1pm.
Others had already taken up spots outside at the restaurant’s bar tables.
CFMEU flags could be seen from the balcony of Irish Murphy’s as well as the inside being packed with fluro shirts.
Criterion and Pig n’ Whistle were also packed with protesters.
Earlier, a sea of thousands of members armed with union flags, cigarettes and energy drinks spilled outside of Queens Gardens onto footpaths and nearby intersections ahead of the 11am rally start.
Workers from the Cross River Rail site were met with a raucous applause as they entered the gardens.
A makeshift coffin with a picture of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the words “bury the ALP” sits next to the stage, while other protests hold signs reading “Albanazi”.
The rally and protests were in response to the CFMEU being placed into administration on Friday by the Albanese Government after allegations the union was infiltrated by criminals.
Multiple leaders were sacked, with 21 going from Queensland including Mr Ravbar, Mr Ingham and Mr Lowth.
Mr Albanese on Tuesday morning warned there would be “consequences” if people walked off the job as part of nationwide pro-CFMEU protests.
“If there is unprotected industrial action, then there are consequences for that,” he said.
Brisbane’s protest came as similar rallies saw mass crowds storm through the streets of Melbourne and Sydney, with Melbourne organisers saying it was the biggest union crowd in decades.
In Brisbane, Electrical Trade Union president Peter Ong also took to the stage, unleashing a scathing attack on Senator Murray Watt, who led the political charge to force the CFMEU into administration.
Speaking before a mammoth crowd, Mr Ong accused the senator of “turning on his own”.
“I don’t know whether he’s on LSD, he’s in his head, had concussion, or maybe he’s been bribed, I don’t know, but who turns like that on their own?” Mr Ong said, while providing no evidence for the baseless and unsubstantiated claims.
“He is a trade union member. He’s a grub of the highest order.
“This is not about criminal activity, this is not about corruption, this is a political attack on the CFMEU and its membership.”
Mr Ong said the administration had set a dangerous precedent and called on other unions to back the CFMEU.
“This is the union, comrades,” referring to the massive crowd.
“This is not an attack on the CFMEU, this is an attack on the trade union movement…from what we thought was our own.”
Later posting to social media, the ETU said the gathering sent a clear message. “Approximately 10,000 Unionists, retired unionists, families, whanau and community came together today in Queens Park Brisbane to send a clear message,” the post read.
“The Union isn’t 270 sacked CFMEU officials, the Union is the members and their supporters, the Union does not belong to the administrators it belongs to the members.
“The rallies across the country sent a clear message to the ALP who imposed industrial legislation that takes away the right to natural justice and the right to a presumption of innocence, two cornerstones of our justice system - you will face the consequences at the ballot box.”
Max Chandler-Mather from the Greens party took to the stage in Brisbane at Tuesday’s rally to show his support to the CFMEU.
“Labor has set a dangerous precedent, what have they done is handed every future Labor or liberal party government on how to seize control of any union they don’t like and crush it,” he said.
“Everyone here opposes corruption, everyone here opposes misogyny, it should not be controversial to say allegations protested in court through a fair trial.
“Instead they have used these untested allegations as an attack on an entire union.”
He said the CFMEU had saved lives and people coming home to their families.
“The strength of construction workers does not come from asking the Labor government for scraps,” he said.
“The strength of the union from the organised collective strength as you as construction workers”
The rally saw protesters walk from Queens Gardens to 1 William Street.
Margaret and Alice streets were closed between 11.30am to 12.30pm. A rally was held at Cairns Esplanade at the same time.
Earlier the parade of protesters in Brisbane were screaming the names of 21 members on the administration hit list, including Mr Ravbar, Mr Ingham and Mr Lowth, followed by “here to stay”.
They’d also been heard chanting “hands off our union” as they wove through Queen St Mall to make their way to the starting point.
Several of the union members were armed with signs condemning Labor.
Along with multiple “Albanazi” signs, others were holding signs boasting “think you know the enemy think again” paired with images of past Labor Prime Ministers including Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison.
There were also several sign referencing Margaret Thatcher including “Thatcher would be proud” and “Thatcher back from the dead”.
Before the rally started, police could be seen escorting the group of protesters through Queen Street, with added police presence making their way to Queens Gardenst.
Police officers blocked off parts of George St.
Traffic was at a standstill as members began marching down Margaret Street before the protest was scheduled to begin, with some vehicles attempting to drive past the protesters.
They were earlier seen heading up the city’s main shopping strip chanting “union power” and before that hundreds had stormed through Gasworks in Newstead.
The CFMEU posted on social media about the protest ahead of the event.
“We encourage all members of the community to join us. CFMEU members deserve control over their union, just like any other worker,” the union’s Queensland/Northern Territory division posted on its Facebook page on Friday with a fist pump emoji.
Footage given to The Courier-Mail showed protesters holding flags and walking outside Gasworks as office workers were forced to evacuate nearby buildings due to a fire alarm. The evacuation and the rally were not related.
“We thought it was related, it was all a bit confusing at first,” The staff member who wished not to be named said.
“We were standing in the construction workers’ way at one point when they were walking through. It was pretty busy but it was just a coincidence we were all evacuated at the same time as the constructions workers walking through the plaza.”
Speaking in Sydney Tuesday morning, the Prime Minister defended his government’s action on the CFMEU as being “in the interests of all trade unionists”.
“We respect the work that construction workers do,” he said.
“It’s a tough job and they do magnificent work, including here at this wonderful airport. “What we want to do, though, is to make sure that their union is free of corruption.”
Pressed on whether forcing the CFMEU into administration cut back the ability of workers to unionise, Mr Albanese said the goal was “proper trade unionism”.
“You need to have unions in the building industry, it’s a dangerous industry,” he said. “But what we want to do is to make sure that they have a union that’s worthy of the incredible work that construction workers do.”
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government was expecting some “blowback” for its action against the CFMEU, but urged protesters to be “peaceful”.
Speaking to the ABC on Tuesday morning ahead of the rallies, he said that “when you appoint an administrator to a union and you move on a couple of hundred officials, there’s going to be blowback”.
“We want these protests to be peaceful today, but they’re not surprising when you take on the leaders of a union with the sorts of behaviour that has been alleged in recent times,” he said.
Some 300 CFMEU officials have been stood down since entering administration on Friday.
While the rallies have received backing from some unions, the CFMEU administrator has distanced itself from any strikes, with a spokesman saying that taking “unprotected industrial action is not lawful” and that the union was “no longer involved” in the protests.
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