‘The CFMEU has no place at the City of Greater Geelong’: CEO Ali Wastie

The City of Greater Geelong has vowed to fight a CFMEU bid to recruit garbos, gardeners and blue collar workers to its ranks, with its CEO declaring the militant union “has no place” at the council.

A Victorian council is fighting back against a CFMEU takeover of its workforce, declaring the union’s “infiltration” of local government will affect services and productivity.

The militant construction union’s bid to recruit garbos, gardeners and blue collar council workers to its union, first revealed by the Herald Sun, has also sparked a legal challenge from the long term Labor-linked union in the local government sector.

Geelong council chief executive Ali Wastie said the CFMEU’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”.

“The CFMEU has no place at the City of Greater Geelong,” she said.

City of Greater Geelong chief Ali Wastie says the CFMEU is not welcome. Picture: David Crosling

The construction union, led by firebrand state secretary John Setka, is recruiting council workers who were represented by the Australian Services Union, and has demanded access to the negotiation table for new local government enterprise agreements.

But lawyers for the ASU have written to the Fair Work Commission to block the CFMEU attempt to join negotiations at Geelong.

In a separate letter to Mr Setka, obtained by the Sunday Herald Sun, the ASU says the CFMEU could be breaking industrial laws by recruiting some employees and that their memberships would be “invalid”.

This is because workers targeted are employed under a “wide range of classifications and jobs” at Geelong which do not relate to the construction union’s industrial coverage.

“In view of the invalidity of those employees’ membership of your union, we advise that we will oppose any participation by your union in the enterprise bargaining and any application by your union … to be covered by the enterprise agreement.”

Mr Setka dismissed the legal challenge, and said the union was putting on council-specific officials “all across Victoria”.

Firebrand CFMEU state secretary, John Setka. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Geelong council’s Ali Wastie has issued fighting words to the powerful union. Picture: David Crosling

“Whether the ASU is talking or farting, to us it’s the same thing,” he said.

“Because their members are leaving them in droves, they’re going into damage control. We are not going after any white collar workers because we know legally, we don’t have the coverage of them, but all the blue collar stuff, we have got two senior legal opinions saying we can cover them.”

Ms Wastie said the demarcation between the CFMEU and ASU should be resolved by the Fair Work Commission.

At the moment, enterprise agreements for Geelong council employees are thrashed out between the council and the ASU, the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation, and Professionals Australia.

“Our focus is on delivering quality services and infrastructure for our growing population, but the CFMEU’s attempts to muscle into our workforce will only cause angst and damage our culture,” she said.

“The Fair Work Commission will now assist as the independent industrial umpire in resolving the current dispute over the unions’ respective representation rights.”

It comes as John Setka launched a savage attack on the AFL, vowing to halt construction projects linked to the AFL, that would make those jobs a “f---ing misery” for the league.

The powerful CFMEU boss threatened to stop all construction projects linked to the AFL unless the league sacked its umpiring boss, Stephen McBurney, who clashed with the union in a previous role as head of the industry watchdog.

Mr Setka warned he would pursue Mr McBurney, formerly the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner, “until the end of the earth”.