Warning on CFMEU intimidation sent to Allan, Albanese in 2022

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan were separately sent detailed evidence in 2022 that CFMEU officials were threatening extreme violence and unlawfully black-banning non-union-preferred companies from state and federally funded projects.

A letter from the directors of an Indigenous labour-hire firm, which was emailed to Allan in April 2022 when she was Victorian deputy premier, details serious threats of extreme violence, intimidation and unlawful union black bans on the federal and state-funded Monash Freeway upgrade project run by major contractor CPB.

Government documents reveal that Allan, who was Victoria’s infrastructure minister at the time, took a year to respond and, even then, insisted industrial relations were a federal issue and suggested a call to state bureaucrats if there were any other concerns. After waiting six months for a reply, the company, in frustration, also sent the letter to the prime minister in October 2022.

In a separate development, it can also be revealed that questions sent to the CFMEU from this masthead about the union’s links to organised criminals were subsequently leaked to an accused criminal in NSW with deep organised crime links.

The accused criminal’s syndicate has ties to CFMEU-backed labour-hire firms winning work on Minns government-funded projects.

This masthead has confirmed that about 48 hours after questions were sent to the CFMEU, they were in the hands of the alleged criminal, who can’t be named for legal reasons but whose syndicate has a strong relationship with certain NSW union officials.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on Monday.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

The revelations come as the crisis engulfing the union deepened on Monday, with the CFMEU placing the Victorian branch into administration and announcing its own investigation into claims of bikie and underworld infiltration and allegations union support was being traded for kickbacks.

Albanese has said that action is insufficient, and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke confirmed he was still considering deregistration.

Allan, meanwhile, pledged to suspend the CFMEU from the Labor Party and temporarily bar the union’s political donations while she referred the matter to Victoria Police and the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission for investigation.

She also flagged a review of state government building contracts and a request to the federal government to assess all construction industry pay deals to ensure they were free of improper conduct.

At her Monday morning press conference, Allan repeatedly insisted she had “zero tolerance” for the intimidating behaviour revealed by this masthead and 60 Minutes but could not explain why it took a year to address the detailed evidence presented to her about serious CFMEU misconduct on state government Big Build sites.

Allan was told at the time that the threats of violence and unlawful conduct were captured on video recordings that could be made available to authorities.

Frustrated at the lack of response from Allan, the firm wrote to the prime minister in October 2022 repeating its concerns.

A government spokesperson said the correspondence was initially sent to an inactive email address and was then sent to the public “contact the PM website”.

“The department has confirmed the Prime Minister’s Office did not receive the correspondence. There are established processes for how the department handles correspondence,” the spokesperson said.

Allan and Albanese were also sent transcripts of the threats from two CFMEU officials, including one transcript that recorded a senior union organiser threatening to bash two directors of a small labour-hire firm and another transcript that captured a second organiser claiming the union controlled the Big Build sites and would ban non-favoured firms.

In the letter, the directors detailed how they faced “fear of retribution” and asked for government help.

“We can’t go to clients, they don’t want IR problems; we can’t discuss it with the union, or the bodies who are supposed to keep a leash on this behaviour out of fear of business collapse or personal ramifications.

“Where is the safe place? Why as an employer should we be threatened with violence, and why should this violence take place in front of employees?”

Allan’s written reply apologised for the delay and advised the firm to seek help from the federal government or the large state contractors that had earlier warned the directors not to complain.

Credit: Matt Golding

In the letter dated April 17, 2023, Allan, then deputy premier, wrote: “The management of industrial relations and sub-contractor selection is the responsibility of our contracted construction partners.

“As such, your correspondence has been forwarded to the relevant construction partner for appropriate action, and we have reinforced our expectation that they operate to the highest standard of lawful and ethical behaviour.”

She explained that the federal government was primarily responsible for employment legislation meaning “they will be best placed to address allegations of illegal behaviour, and I encourage you to seek advice from the relevant federal department on these matters”.

Asked about the lengthy delay in responding to the CFMEU bullying on Monday, Allan said she always took “immediate” steps to investigate claims.

“I have absolutely zero tolerance for any sort of bullying thuggish intimidatory behaviour on Victorian work sites, and where we had had issues raised with either myself or the relevant delivery agency we have moved to immediately investigate those allegations.”

Sources familiar with the dispute said that CPB had raised the matter with the Major Transport Infrastructure Authority at the time but no action was taken. CPB declined to comment.

It is understood the Fair Work Ombudsman has recently started investigating the CPB matter.

Two months after receiving the firm’s letter, Allan was also briefed about another Indigenous firm that the CFMEU had allegedly kicked off nine government projects, including the state’s signature project, the $200 billion Suburban Rail Loop, according to emails released under freedom of information.

That Indigenous firm’s letter outlining its concerns was completely redacted in response to a freedom-of-information request last year.

However, a copy of the letter subsequently obtained by this masthead showed that the firm, which did not have a CFMEU-endorsed pay deal, detailed claims of the union’s repeated actions to black-ban the firm from building sites mid-contract.

At the state government’s Suburban Rail Loop project, on the Greensborough to Diamond Creek upgrade, an Acciona manager had emailed the firm’s owner after 14 months of work to say “there will be no bookings going forward”, and that he had been “instructed” to only use two traffic management companies that were not Indigenous.

Allan, then deputy premier, responded to those claims by referring the alleged coercion to the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which the Albanese government was about to scrap.

In subsequent emails to the Fair Work Ombudsman, the labour-hire owner alleged the Acciona manager had told him the CFMEU had threatened to close the site down every day until they were replaced and that would cost it more than $1 million a day.

Acciona did not respond to requests for comment.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth, whose agency has been investigating alleged coercion of Indigenous firms for well over a year, said it had “active investigations into the conduct of the CFMEU, including into the Victorian branch, relating to possible Fair Work Act contraventions”.

“Improving compliance across the building and construction industry is a priority for the FWO, and we will investigate reports of non-compliance and hold to account those who act outside the law.”

Since it took over the building industry remit in 2022, the Fair Work Ombudsman has launched several legal actions against employers in the building industry but none against the CFMEU.

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