SA construction industry leaders claim the CFMEU has a stranglehold on projects like the$3.2bn W&CH build
One SA construction industry operator claims he’s lost $15m in contracts to Victoria as the militant CFMEU takes over the state’s building sites.
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State construction industry leaders claim they are being pushed out of major project sites including the new $3.2bn Women’s and Children’s Hospital and Adelaide Central Market as the militant Victorian CFMEU gets a stranglehold.
Angry local operators want the state government to take urgent action against the union’s power play, with one leading construction industry sub contractor claiming “our company alone has lost over $15m in contracts over the last 18 months”.
He said the Construction Forestry Maritime and Energy Union (CFMEU) was taking over major SA build sites and that “well over $100m in contracts” had been awarded to Victorian companies over the past 18 months.
The whistleblower claimed the Victorian CFMEU – that controversially took over the SA branch in 2022 before being pushed into administration last year – “and its influence is a major reason for this infiltration” from interstate contractors.
“Of the projects valued over $25m we have lost to Victorian contractors, each has some level of government involvement,” said the SA construction industry figure, who wanted to remain anonymous fearing repercussions.
“The state has local procurement policies on paper, but in practice they are weak.”
The source said that it was “widely known that the CFMEU holds disproportionate influence over some of the state’s largest builders”.
“Anyone can attest to this influence, yet the industry remains largely silent out of fear of retaliation,” he said.
Numerous claims of the controversial Victorian union pressuring local businesses have been shared with The Advertiser, including that CFMEU delegates were operating on sites including the new Women’s and Children’s Hospital build.
Industry figures believed the Torrens to Darlington project also was being targeted and union delegates were pushing for only CFMEU workers to be allowed on the more than $400m Adelaide Central Market expansion.
The claims were questioned by Adelaide Central Market board chair Theo Maras, who was not aware of the CFMEU blocking non-union members on site and believed there was little work in Melbourne so Victorian subcontractors were targeting SA projects with “stiff competition”.
Another construction industry company owner called for an overhaul of “procurement frameworks at all levels of government … instead of sending the proceeds of our state’s biggest projects across the border to Victoria”.
Further concerns were raised that CFMEU workers were usually paid higher wages under CFMEU agreements that subcontractors were forced to negotiate on sites.
One business owner, who also wanted to remain anonymous, feared this would blow out the costs of major taxpayer-funded projects.
Industry figures have previously claimed project costs already had soared between 10 and 15 per cent as a result.
The SA branch of the CFMEU website tells local workers to join the Victorian branch’s union redundancy fund IncoLink rather than the local redundancy fund BIRST.
“The message from the union has been clear: if local companies refuse to sign an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement and commit to IncoLink, more Victorian companies will be brought in to dominate the market,” one business owner said.
“This tactic continues unabated, even under administration, leaving contractors with little hope of fairly securing major projects.”
The Australian reported a KordaMentha investigation into the finances of the CFMEU detailed how the union’s Victorian branch received $28m from the redundancy fund IncoLink to build a wellness centre in Melbourne’s central business district.
Master Builders Association SA chief Will Frogley said the Victorian CFMEU’s aggressive takeover of the SA branch delivered scandals and plummeting membership, with local workers wanting a local union, not “vested interests in Melbourne”.
“Nobody wants the Victorian CFMEU here, but they don’t care. Even under administration, they keep pushing their poison in over the border,” Mr Frogley said.
Liberal Industrial Relations spokesman Ben Hood this week claimed the state government was “asleep at the wheel”.
“The government has the power to mandate fair, transparent redundancy schemes like BIRST here in SA instead of allowing Victorian-controlled funds like Incolink to siphon off money back to Victoria,” he said.
The CFMEU South Australia branch said that CFMEU sites were “safer and more productive than non-unionised sites”.
“(We) will continue to grow the membership and increase the number of companies with union EBAs,” it said.
It said SA workers, companies and jobs were a priority and “the only thing (we) want to import from interstate is best-practice construction safety standards, conditions and productivity measurers”.
A state government spokesperson said “to our knowledge none have raised these concerns with us” during regular government discussions with major contractors.
He said SA businesses accounted for 91 per cent of government procurement and an audit last year found no evidence of arrangements in place with the CFMEU on Infrastructure and Transport Department construction contracts.
“The audit found that there was no evidence of CFMEU arrangements that were inappropriate, or could be considered to have the potential to impact the selection of subcontractors.”
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