Unions want to teach AFL and government a lesson

Union thug John Setka has made it clear who he thinks runs the country and it’s not Anthony Albanese or Workplace Minister Tony Burke. In case they missed it, Mr Setka said the CFMEU was going to teach people a lesson “just like we’ve taught Labor politicians over the years. If you want to betray us you are going to pay a price”.

For Mr Albanese and Mr Burke, despite the down-payment of two lots of industrial relations reforms that hand power back to trade unions, the CFMEU is not done yet. Revenge against the AFL for hiring former building watchdog Stephen McBurney as the code’s head umpire is just the beginning. Mr Setka said he won’t let politicians decide who his union can go after and who it can’t.

Like a criminal code among thieves, Mr Setka believes lawful actions against trade unions require action to square the ledger. Most unsettling about Mr Setka’s outburst has been the limp response from the government. The Prime Minister was almost incoherent in his reasoning that dropping the campaign against the AFL was the commonsense thing for Mr Setka to do. Mr Albanese did not forcefully criticise Mr Setka, call out union overreach or defend public servants who, in the case of Mr McBurney, had diligently done their job. Mr Albanese said he didn’t know who Mr McBurney was, as if that was important.

The message sent was that Mr Albanese is not interested in detail and unwilling to stand up for business when trade unions run amok. Mr Burke took a technical defence. He said the union actions would be illegal because they would not be considered protected action.

Mr Setka clearly knows union power better than either Mr Albanese or Mr Burke. He said AFL projects could be ruined without the need for industrial action. “We can just work the hours that are required for us to work and the job’s f..ked,” he said.

Without stern intervention, this is the future for Australian industry as trade unions take up the opportunity provided by Labor to reassert their position in the workplace. Mr Setka’s attack on the AFL has been supported by the Electrical Trades Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and the plumbers’ unions. Meanwhile, the Transport Workers Union has warned Virgin Australia’s owner, Bain Capital, against appointing Paul Jones as chief executive because he worked at Qantas when a decision was made to outsource 1683 ground-handling jobs.

Both campaigns can only be described as blackmail and it is outrageous they have not been called out more forcefully by the government. The reality is the ALP is conflicted in its relationship with the trade union movement. As Geoff Chambers wrote on Thursday, Richard Marles, Penny Wong, Tony Burke, Katy Gallagher, Don Farrell, Amanda Rishworth, Ed Husic, Chris Bowen, Mark Butler, Bill Shorten and Brendan O’Connor worked for unions ­before entering politics. Jim Chalmers, Tanya Plibersek, Catherine King, Linda Burney, Murray Watt and Clare O’Neil all hold union memberships.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor was correct to identify the bigger message in the Setka and TWU outbursts; that these were bullyboy tactics from union officials who want to control every aspect of every workplace, including deciding who the boss is going to be, and deciding when you need to engage with your boss and when you can’t. The Coalition is not guilt-free, however. It was deficient in not staying the course with workplace reform after the defeat of WorkChoices under the Howard government. It was spooked by the threat of a repeat of the ACTU campaign against it.

The result is the hard-won reforms of the Howard years are being lost. The speed with which Labor has been able to turn the tables and put unions back in control must be a tough lesson both for business and a free-market Coalition to learn.