I witnessed the rot set in at the CFMEU. Here’s how it happened

The expression that evil flourishes when good people do nothing goes a fair bit of the way in explaining the mess the CFMEU construction division is in today. Yet eventually people who turn a blind eye for long enough become as big a problem as their plainly corrupt colleagues.

Why do these people turn a blind eye? For some, it’s out of physical fear. For others, it’s just a question of keeping your head down and staying on the payroll.

John Setka leading a CFMEU rally in Sydney in 2023.Credit: Michael Quelch

Corruption and criminality in the CFMEU didn’t start during the time of John Setka’s reign. The 1986 deregistration of Norm Gallagher’s Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) is probably the starting point. They were deregistered by the Hawke government because of their industrial recklessness, thuggery and corruption.

Gallagher was jailed for taking kickbacks from developers to build his beach house. His union used extensive industrial action to get the big construction companies to influence the government to release him. Not exactly how our judicial system works.

When the BLF was deregistered, other building unions recruited tens of thousands of BLF members in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. In the early 1990s, the building unions formed the new super union, the CFMEU.

As part of that process, the federal industrial relations minister, Peter Cook, was keen for the non-deregistered BLF branches in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania to join the new union. A sticking point was what to do about some former BLF officials from Victoria. The BLF branches and Cook were keen for the CFMEU leaders to let them in. Protracted negotiations, which I participated in, led to former Victorian official John Cummins coming onto the books of the CFMEU.

Agreement could not be reached about a young Setka because of his past behaviour. History shows that within 18 months, Cummins secured Setka a job in the Victorian CFMEU.

Between 1993 and 2000, the former BLF forces gradually strengthened their position in the Victorian branch and didn’t hide the fact they aimed to take over the federal office and grab control of the whole union. In 2000, they made their move, and a series of ugly events involved gangsters, corruption and bitter internal fighting, leading to the Cole royal commission into the building industry.

Between 2000 and 2010, the Victorian branch didn’t have the numbers to take control. The NSW, Queensland, ACT and Tasmanian branches stood together and represented the biggest faction. A new Queensland CFMEU leader took office around 2008 and started voting with the Victorians. This represented a serious change in the direction and culture of the CFMEU construction division.

Those who had been trying to remove me since 1994 now had the numbers, and I left the union at the end of 2010 after 31 years.

Shortly after there were leadership changes in the NSW branch, which then became embroiled in ugly allegations of corruption. Gangsters started to circle. The Heydon royal commission into trade unions ventilated extensive evidence about nefarious activities by leading NSW officials. Remarkably, no criminal charges followed. The officials subject to examination by the royal commission were not deterred and strengthened their control of the branch. Father and son Darren Greenfield and Michael Greenfield have been the secretary and assistant secretary for the past seven years or so.

Meanwhile, Setka, who became the Victorian branch secretary in 2012, continued to strengthen his control of that branch. Many longstanding officials and site delegates were replaced by a new brigade, some with a history of bikie gang activity and criminal involvement.

Given the size of the Victorian branch and Setka’s powerful presence, he became the dominant force across the construction division nationally. For many years, the Victorian and NSW branches had been at loggerheads about the appropriate style of unionism, but under the Setka and Greenfield leaderships there was a new close affinity. Paralleling this was the rise in prominence of colourful identity Mick Gatto in Victoria.

Is the Setka style of unionism all bad? No. In many ways, the crude use of power and muscle corresponds with the raw nature of the construction industry. Big developers and construction companies often crush small fry, whether subcontractors or workers. The use of union militancy to push for wage demands and safety has often been positive. But when Setka and his band took control, muscle became everything – no matter where the muscle came from.

What is the future of the CFMEU construction division? Nothing short of a cleanout of corrupt officials in the Victorian and NSW branches will suffice. It’s highly unlikely the union can clean itself up.

There will need to be concerted government action together with the efforts of good people in the union and broader labour movement to try to save what once was a proud union with a great future.

A final plea: no more expensive royal commissions and lawyer-driven inquiries that take years and achieve nothing.

John Sutton is the former national secretary of the Construction Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

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