CFMEU claims council maintenance workers as takeover fight steams on

Council maintenance crews and machinery operators have been recruited by the militant CFMEU as it continues a hostile takeover of the local government sector.

Council maintenance crews and machinery operators have been recruited by the militant CFMEU as it continues a hostile takeover of the local government sector.

The classification of workers signed up by the militant union is shaping as a key test as to whether they will be allowed to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of council workers.

Last week the Saturday Herald Sun revealed that Geelong Council had pushed back against the “infiltration” of the CFMEU, arguing it had no place in local government, and that it would affect services and productivity.

The union that represents the majority of council workers, the Australian Services Union, has told the industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission, that the CFMEU does not have legal coverage of the sector.

But letters sent to the FWC on behalf of the CFMEU by its lawyers, obtained by the Herald Sun, show the construction union will argue that the workers it has signed up can be classified as “engine drivers” under industrial relations law.

This would allow it to represent those members, and argue for pay and conditions on behalf of council workers.

State secretary of the CFMEU, John Setka, recently told the Herald Sun that members were seeking out the union in the hope of better pay and conditions. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Lawyers say the roles include “Works Officers, Plant Operators and Heavy Plant Operators” under the latest City of Greater Geelong Enterprise Agreement.

“The members are eligible for membership of the CFMEU … because they are “engine drivers” within the meaning of that rule,” the lawyers write.

The attempted takeover of council wage negotiations has alarmed ratepayers groups, which fear the union’s history of industrial standovers would increase strikes and costs.

State secretary of the CFMEU, John Setka, recently told the Herald Sun that members were seeking out the union in the hope of better pay and conditions.

But Labor insiders say the push into local government is part of the CFMEU’s war on the ASU, which called for Mr Setka to resign from the ALP when he was charged with harassing his former wife, and to build more numbers inside the party.

They say the vendetta launched against the AFL head of umpiring is another bid to settle scores before Mr Setka retires from the role of state secretary later this year.

A Fair Work Commission hearing on whether the CFMEU is able to negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of Geelong Council workers is set for next week.

Last week, Geelong Council chief executive Ali Wastie said the union’s “attempt to infiltrate local government will be detrimental to the City of Greater Geelong’s ability to deliver services, cut inefficiencies and will hurt our productivity”.