CFMEU pushing for Cross River Rail workers to get $2000-a-week pay rise
The militant CFMEU are pushing for workers on the Cross River Rail project to get a $2000-plus per week pay rise – despite the project already being $1bn over budget.
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The CFMEU are pushing for workers on Queensland’s largest public transport project Cross River Rail to get a $2000-plus per week pay rise – despite the flagship project already being $1bn over budget.
A flyer obtained by The Sunday Mail shows the union wants top tunnel and shaft night shift workers – currently paid $5319 per week – to be bumped up to $7451 pre-tax for a 50-hour week, an extra $2132 or an average annual salary of about $387,000.
Under the proposal, those one level down would be paid $6843 per week for 50 hours night shift from $4908 – an almost $2000 uplift, or almost 40 per cent higher.
The union was also pushing for day shift workers doing 58-hour weeks both on tunnel and shaft, and civil and surface, to receive significant pay bumps of between $1220 and $1486 per week - rises of about 30 per cent.
And top civil and surface workers pulling a 50-hour night shift would, under the proposal, see the biggest jump upwards - wanting an extra $2300 per week extra to take their weekly wage to $7435.
A spokesman for the CFMEU confirmed the flyer – which also states “attention CRR workers … join the CFMEU and fight for a decent day’s pay for a decent day’s work!” – was legitimate.
He also said the work on Cross River Rail was highly-specialised work, and the rates were in line with current market rates for such work.
The Courier-Mail understands negotiations between unions and the Cross River Rail contractor CPB Contractors were set to commence shortly with the expiration of the current agreement.
Queensland Major Contractors Association chief executive Andrew Chapman said the sustained pressure to inflate wages by the CFMEU was significantly raising costs on state projects, and making many “uneconomic”.
“Unfortunately, important infrastructure projects like CRR are becoming pawns in the CFMEU’s pursuit of control of the civil construction sector in QLD, over the union that has majority coverage (the AWU),” he said.
“This has recently occurred in Victoria, where they have forced costs through the roof and rendered projects uneconomic.
“This is being aided in QLD through the introduction of BPIC by the state government.”
Mr Chapman also said with the Brisbane 2032 Games on the horizon - and so many projects to be delivered in the lead-up - setting wage rates in excess of industry levels would only further reduce productivity.
“Construction companies should have the right to form an agreement that works best for their business and employees- not be dictated who they should negotiate with and what the rates should be,” he said.
“How can this be considered acceptable when we need to deliver so much more in the lead up to 2032.”
In March, Transport Minister Mark Bailey revealed the project – now in its fourth year of major construction – had blown out by a whopping $960m, taking the cost being delivered by the government from $5.4bn to $6.3bn.
That included $848m extra in costs, plus a further $112m for additional land at the Roma Street site.
At the time Mr Bailey also announced a delay to the time frame – Cross River Rail was initially due to open in 2025, but was now pushed back to early 2026.
The Transport Minister blamed a number of external events for the reason for the both the blowout and the delay – including Covid, supply chain issues, the war in Ukraine, and La Nina.
Mr Bailey declined to comment on the negotiation on Cross River Rail, but industry insiders have told The Courier-Mail the CFMEU’s continued push for inflated wages and extra perks such as more RDOs had been putting significant pressure on state government projects.
Earlier this year the spotlight was shone on the government’s Best Practice Industry Conditions policy - a policy spearheaded by Public Works Minister Mick de Brenni, which has been dubbed by those in the sector the “CFMEU tax”.
Under the policy - which does not apply to Cross River Rail as it predates the implementation - costs on state projects were being driven up by as much as 30 per cent, the sector claims, with major projects including Coomera Connector and Gold Coast Light Rail impacted.
Mr de Brenni has repeatedly stuck by the controversial policy, saying that the government was influenced only by “ensuring we deliver fair wages, proper training and fit for purpose, safe workplaces”.
“Our policy does not have any bearing on union coverage and is agnostic to those matters, as they are an issue for them,” he said.
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