Cross River Rail strikes with masks: CFMEU in pay row

Masked men blocked the entrances to shut down the Queensland government’s largest infrastructure project, as the CFMEU launched strike action accusing the Labor government and contractor of ‘chaos and mismanagement’.

CFMEU assistant secretary Jade Ingham denied the strike was about pay, and insisted it was about safety and conditions. Picture: Liam Kidston

Masked men blocked the entrances to shut down the Queensland government’s largest infrastructure project, as the CFMEU launched strike action accusing the Labor government and contractor of “chaos and mismanagement”.

Work on the already delayed and over-budget $6.3bn Cross River Rail project was forced to stop before dawn on Tuesday, as men wearing black masks and handkerchiefs around their faces stood arms crossed at the entrance to Brisbane worksites.

The men blocking the sites were flanked by signs saying “if provoked we will STRIKE” and “workers united will never be defeated”.

Only 137 CFMEU members have been given legal protection to launch industrial action against their employer contractor CPB. The militant construction union denied it was responsible for padlocking site gates, barricading entrances, and parking vehicles in front of entrances, effectively stopping hundreds of non-union labourers from going to work.

Months of enterprise bargaining negotiations between CPB and the CFMEU broke down after the union rejected a pay deal, in which labourers would be given payrises to lift their annual salary from $240,000 to $260,000 immediately for a 50-plus hour week. Sources close to the negotiations said the CFMEU wanted those workers paid up to $365,000 annually by 2027.

The CPB offer included pay rises of 5 per cent, 5 per cent, 4 per cent, 4 per cent for the next four years.

CFMEU assistant secretary Jade Ingham denied the strike, which is authorised to last until Friday for those 137 workers, was about pay, and insisted it was about safety and conditions.

Asked whether the CFMEU or any of its officials or members had locked worksites, Mr Ingham said “no, we didn’t”.

“The reality is … the first casualty when you enter a big dispute like this is the truth,” he said.

But when asked whether the union was blocking other workers from entering Cross River Rail sites, he said: “Workers will talk to workers on the project about what they’re doing and ask for their support. That’s what a picket line is.”

Mr Ingham said the suggestion entry-level labourers would get $240,000-a-year under the deal was wrong, and it was much less than two-thirds of that amount. He said there was no heat policy on the job, and 32 people had to be hospitalised due to heat stress so far this year. One worker died.

“So that’s the track record in just one summer alone on one safety issue, which is the inadequate management of the risk of heat and heat stress,” he said. “Enough is enough. This is not all about money by no stretch of the imagination, it’s about workers’ rights.”

A spokeswoman for CPB Contractors said bargaining started late last year to renew the enterprise agreements and while meetings had been “productive”, an agreement hasn’t been reached.

“CPB Contractors’ intention is to keep worksites open, minimise disruption and for safe productivity to continue,” she said.

The Australian has sought comment from the Fair Work Commission about other workers being blocked from entering the Cross River Rail sites, apparently in breach of the protected industrial action rules.

The Cross River Rail is a 10.2km rail line, including nearly 6km of tunnels under the Brisbane River and CBD, and includes the construction of four new underground train stations.

The project has 16 worksites, and until recently was budgeted at $5.4bn, but blew out to $6.3bn.