CFMEU takes its internal brawl to court

Union’s mining division launches legal action to try to stop national executive meeting.

CFMEU construction division national secretary Dave Noonan. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

The CFMEU’s mining and energy division says rival construction division officials will descend on mines this weekend to poach its members unless the Federal Court agrees to stop a meeting of the union’s national executive going ahead

The Federal Court will rule at 9.30am on Friday on the mining division’s bid for an injunction to stop the national executive which, if it proceeds as scheduled hours later, is likely to back rule changes proposed by the construction division. The mining division claimed construction officials, who control the numbers on the national executive, would be able to poach its members if the coverage rules were altered.

In a court hearing on Thursday, lawyers for the construction division gave an undertaking there would be no poaching of mining division members.

Division general president Tony Maher. Picture: Supplied

Lawyers for the mining division said, however, the pledge was meaningless — if the rules were changed, construction officials would be “out and about” at mines on Saturday poaching members while saying they were merely following the national executive’s decision.

The court action is the latest instalment in the civil war between rival camps of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union, with the construction and maritime divisions in conflict with the manufacturing, mining and energy divisions.

The national convention of the mining and energy division is to meet on Monday to vote on the first stage of splitting from the union. Division general president Tony Maher said on Thursday there was no coverage dispute that required an urgent national executive meeting.

“The meeting is a ploy to disrupt the mining and energy division determining our future direction,” he said. “We remain focused on giving mining and energy members a voice and representing their will. We won’t be blown off course by … confected dramas.”

Construction officials had asked the national executive to resolve a dispute between the rival divisions over the allocation of members who were eligible to belong to either division.

The mining division said construction, which has control of the national executive, created a phantom dispute over membership coverage so it could poach members. It said the true purpose of the national executive meeting was to try to disrupt the national convention meeting.

Meanwhile, the commission has rejected a non-union agreement in NSW, finding the builder Lipman failed to properly explain substantive workplace changes to employees.

The deal, brought to the commission by the Master Builders for approval, contained pay rises of 1.6 per cent and a raft of other changes that the tribunal found were not adequately explained to workers, as required by law.

The setback for employers follows the CFMEU’s NSW branch striking pay deals with six major builders that deliver annual wage increases of 3-5 per cent.

The union’s NSW secretary, Darren Greenfield, said the rejection of the “substandard” Lipman agreement “sends a clear message to employers that they cannot pervert the EBA process to trick workers into agreements that leave them with substandard wages and conditions”.

“The CFMEU is challenging several similar non-union EBAs which would leave workers substantially worse off and offer lower wages and conditions than those accepted by the vast majority of the NSW industry,” he said.

The CFMEU has struck agreements at Lend Lease, Multiplex, Probuild, John Holland, Laing O’Rourke and Watpac that include 12 per cent superannuation.

Mr Greenfield said the union was close to reaching final agreement with 10 other major builders.

Employees at three large builders will receive annual 5 per cent increases, but workers at Multiplex and LendLease will get 3 per cent rises and Watpac employees will get 4 per cent.