It’s a union, not a bikie gang: CFMEU needs a serious overhaul, not more of the same

The CFMEU needs a clean out, not more of the same. The decision by the CFMEU national office to put the Victorian construction division under its control does not go far enough and looks like a desperate attempt to stall tougher federal government action.

There are serious questions about whether the CFMEU national office is in a fit state to do this role, considering its leadership was installed by the likes of John Setka, who resigned over the controversy on Friday, and Darren Greenfield, who is fighting serious corruption charges.

Then-CFMEU boss John Setka in June.Credit: Eamon Gallagher

This is because under the CFMEU’s structure, the state branches effectively control the national union and elect its officers.

The problem is that in much of the country, the state branches have been riddled with poor behaviour as the joint investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes has revealed over the past few days.

Setka’s branch ran the union in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. In NSW, Greenfield remains in his role as leader even as ACTU secretary Sally McManus on Monday called for him to be stood down pending the outcome of his charges.

The issues in Greenfield’s case are separate to other allegations of wrongdoing raised by the joint investigation, and there is no suggestion he is guilty of an offence, only that he is facing charges of corruption that he has denied.

Still, it is people like Setka and Greenfield who handpicked Zach Smith for his national union role.

He’s now telling us he’s the man to lead a process to weed out corruption, cronyism and organised crime involvement that has flourished, in particular under Setka’s reign.

Smith said on Monday that the union’s national office would assume all senior executive powers of the Victorian branch and that a “leading legal figure” would investigate credible allegations of wrongdoing.

That does not go far enough.

What is needed at the very least is that a genuinely independent administrator be appointed – not Smith – along with a group of credible union people with deep experience to temporarily run the branch.

They would be the only people able to take the action needed to clean up the union.

That includes telling senior bikies they can no longer represent workers in the important role of delegates, a position at odds with Smith’s public statements so far.

The appropriate action also includes cleaning up its branch committee of management and standing down senior officials such as Derek Christopher, who is the subject of a serious corruption investigation. An overhaul is needed.

Setka ran the union as a despot, striking fear into staff and opponents, while for years boasting of his friendship with underworld figure Mick Gatto.

He will go down in history as one of Australia’s most discredited and notorious unionists.

It was fitting he slinked out of power late on Friday afternoon when the reality of what he had created finally caught up with him. He has left his union in ruins.

He only survived this long – in particular after his conviction on domestic violence offences in 2019 – through his enablers from the national union and among key figures in Victoria’s union and Labor Left, including the Victorian Trades Hall Council and Electrical Trades Union.

They have all played a significant role in the terrible situation this key union now finds itself in.

The CFMEU, and its predecessor, the Builders Labourers Federation, won considerable gains for workers and struck out as a key voice on the left on social issues, whether it was green bans to protect iconic sites slated for demolition or to campaign for racial and social justice.

It was hated by the establishment for its militant politics. Under Setka, the union has cast away nearly all of these political positions.

Instead, Setka has left his union looking more like a bikie gang than a vitally important trade union. Building workers deserve much better.

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