CFMEU threatens Setka with Federal Court action

National CFMEU officials are threatening Federal Court action against John Setka.

CFMMEU Secretary John Setka leaves the Melbourne Magistrate court with his wife, in June. Picture: David Crosling

The war within the CFMEU has intensified, with national officials threatening Federal Court action against Victorian secretary John Setka after he allegedly deman­ded that two union organisers defect­ to his camp and “pinch” members from a rival division.

Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union officials said Mr Setka and nation­­al­ secretary Mich­ael O’Connor were “at war” and the latest move by Mr Setka was ­“another gift” for the Morrison government as it tries to win crossbench support for new laws making it easier to deregister ­unions and ban union officials.

The Australian has been told a barrister had been briefed and ­affidavits prepared for Federal Court action as national officials consider seeking an interlocutory injunction to prevent the poaching of members by Mr Setka’s division.

Sources said the two organisers told senior officials Mr Setka called them to his ­office and told them to defect from the manufact­uring division to construction, “or you won’t have a career left”.

“When you come over, you are going to be pinching their (manufacturing) members,” Mr Setka alleged­ly said, according to the organisers’ accounts to national offic­ials. Sources said poaching members from a rival division was in breach of CFMEU rules.

Crisis talks will be held this week, when Mr Setka’s rivals will demand he give an undertaking in writing that no attempt would be made to poach manufacturing division members. If no undertaking is given, officials said they would take Federal Court action.

Mr Setka refused to comment.

“Lawyers have been briefed and affidavits prepared because this is a clear breach of the rules,’’ one official said.

“If we don’t get ­assurances from him in writing that this is not happening, we will be filing.”

Another official said the court action might not be launched until there was an attempt to recruit manufacturing division members, as this would give Mr Setka’s opponent­s a better chance of convincing the court that rules had been broken.

Sources said last night one of the organisers had agreed to ­defect to the construction division but the second organiser had now signal­led he was prepared to defy Mr Setka and stay with the manufacturing division.

Following the amalgamation to create the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union, the manufacturing divis­ion represents workers in the forestry, furnishing, building prod­ucts, pulp and paper, textile, clothing and footwear manufact­uring industries. The legal threats last night are the latest outbreak of public disunity in the CFMEU.

The Weekend Australian reported on Saturday that a document containing a large number of alleg­ations against Mr Setka relating to the harassment of his wife has been circulated widely, including one claiming he said: “I’ve got a piece, I’ll put it to your head.”

Mr Setka also refused to ­comment on those claims.

Documents seen by The Aust­ralian also confirm Mr Setka has hired a former homicide squad and armed robbery squad detec­t­ive, Stephen Curnow, to conduct an investigation into offic­ials of the union to try to discover who leaked information against him.

Mr Curnow, who is now a priv­ate investigator, has written to CFMEU officials, saying he had been briefed by Mr Setka’s branch to investigate the “unauthorised disclosure” of confidential documents to “unauthorised” persons, including journalists.

In an accompanying letter of authority, Mr Setka says the documents were “from my legal file and brief compiled and maintained” by the law firm Gordon Legal as part of recent Melbourne Magistrates Court action.

He pleaded guilty in June to a charge of breaching a court order and another of harassing a woman by text messages.

His wife, Emma Walters, identified herself as the victim.