North East Link casual workers making $300k under alleged CFMEU rort

A bombshell claim alleges the multinational consortium running the North East Link has been coerced by the CFMEU into hiring casual workers on $300k for the project.

Casual workers earning $300,000 a year are allegedly being hired on the $26bn North East Link due to CFMEU intimidation, despite the builders already having agreements in place for cheaper full-time staff to do the jobs.

The bombshell claim is at the centre of a high stakes legal challenge which insiders say will be a test case in the fight to curtail the union’s control over Victoria’s Big Build.

The Australian Workers Union is taking the builders of the North East Link – the most expensive road in Victorian history – to the Fair Work Commission.

The AWU claims that Spark – which is made up of global construction giants including WeBuild, GS Engineering and Construction, CPB Contractors, and China Construction Oceania – have been coerced into hiring casuals to operate gantry cranes on the project.

Documents obtained by the Herald Sun show the AWU claims that the jobs should have been filled by full-time employees, who would be covered by an AWU North East Link pay deal.

Industry insiders provided a breakdown showing gantry crane operators gross more than $270,000 a year when working 56-hour weeks. Picture: David Crosling

The casuals recruited were from a company that is aligned to the CFMEU – although the militant construction union is not mentioned in the AWU dispute application.

“The AWU also has serious concerns that the engagement of the subcontractors was not based of a genuine need for labour by the employer, but rather due to bullying and intimidation,” Fair Work documents say.

Industry insiders provided a breakdown showing gantry crane operators gross more than $270,000 a year when working 56-hour weeks, which are standard on mega projects.

Casuals then get a 25 per cent loading added to ordinary hours, meaning their annual wages soar beyond $300,000.

Subcontractors providing the workforce are also paid 15 per cent, meaning supplying labour in this way can be more expensive than hiring full-time employees.

The North East Link is the most expensive road in Victoria’s history, and its budget has already blown out from $15.8bn to at least $26bn. Picture: David Crosling

The CFMEU’s power on Victorian building sites had been growing up to July this year, when it was put in administration due to links to criminals and bikies, and allegations kickbacks were used to secure lucrative workplace pay deals, called enterprise agreements.

A subsequent report by an anti-corruption barrister, revealed by the Herald Sun, says that the union’s workplace pay deals in Victoria were “vulnerable to corruption” and recommends a further probe into how they were struck and used to get a foothold on major projects.

The report says the CFMEU was in a cycle of lawlessness before the administrator was called in, and that despite a supposed purge of bikies and criminals from its ranks, those figures were still employed by companies working on taxpayer-funded projects.

The North East Link will connect the Eastern Freeway in Bulleen to the M80 in Greensborough. Picture: David Crosling

Industry insiders also confirmed that despite CFMEU executives being sacked when administrators took over, “nothing has changed” when it comes to its control of the Big Build.

Premier Jacinta Allan recently spoke about the “rotten culture” of the union, but was in charge of the Big Build for most of the past decade, and insiders say the government did nothing to address increasing lawlessness over the past two years.

The Herald Sun has also obtained correspondence showing global firms are continuing to favour companies with CFMEU agreements over industry of AWU deals, and insiders say they blame a fear of industrial relations warfare for the ongoing capitulation.

The North East Link will connect the Eastern Freeway in Bulleen to the M80 in Greensborough, including via a 6.5km tunnel, to create a new mega-toll road.

Industry insiders say despite CFMEU executives being sacked when administrators took over, ‘nothing has changed’ when it comes to its control of the Big Build. Picture: AFP

It is the most expensive road in Victoria’s history, and its budget has already blown out from $15.8bn to at least $26bn.

The AWU, which was shut out of some projects when the CFMEU launched a takeover of civil construction turf in Victoria earlier this decade, does not name its rival union in Fair Work Commission documents but alleges coercion was a factor in labour hire.

It accuses Spark of breaching its North East Link agreement with the AWU, because that deal covers gantry workers.

The AWU’s state secretary, Ronnie Hayden, declined to comment.

A Spark spokesperson said the group had a robust procurement process and a multi-criteria evaluation considers factors such as price, performance and capability to “ensure the project gets value for money”.

“Thousands of jobs are being created across a broad range of businesses as we build the North East Link,” they said.

“As this matter is before the Fair Work Commission we are unable to comment further.”