CFMEU veteran Michael O’Connor lashes rival John Setka’s campaign against the AFL as ‘ham-fisted’

Michael O’Connor has accused John Setka of undermining the reputation of the entire union movement by trying to hold AFL projects ‘to ransom’.

CFMEU manufacturing division leader Michael O’Connor. Picture: Aaron Francis

Veteran CFMEU official Michael O’Connor has accused John Setka of undermining the reputation of the entire union movement by trying to hold AFL projects “to ransom” and waging a “personal revenge campaign” to oust former building watchdog Stephen McBurney as the league’s head of umpiring.

Mr O’Connor, the union’s manufacturing division secretary who resigned as ­national secretary in 2020 following a campaign by Mr Setka and his allies to force him out, accused his adversary of trying to stand over the AFL to get Mr McBurney sacked.

The attack came as Mr Setka, the union’s Victorian construction division secretary, prepared to address thousands of CFMEU members in Melbourne on Monday about a proposed new enterprise agreement that includes above-inflation pay rises totalling 21 per cent over the next four years.

John Setka. Picture: Roy VanDerVegt

Mr O’Connor said the threat by Mr Setka to derail the AFL projects, including the proposed Hobart stadium, was “not made because the AFL or its projects are associated with poor health and safety, or wage theft, or worker exploitation, but because Setka holds a grudge against McBurney”, due to his past role as the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner.

“While McBurney is not a reputable figure in our eyes due to his former conduct as the head of the notoriously anti-worker ABCC, Setka’s threat to derail projects if he is not sacked by the AFL is ham-fisted and clumsy, an overreach that’s not in the best interests of members or the broader Australian trade union movement,” Mr O’Connor said.

He said the manufacturing division did not condone any type of threatening behaviour; did not use “members’ money to fund personal revenge campaigns”; and did not “attempt to hold public projects to ransom to settle personal grudges”.

“The behaviour of the construction division undermines the reputation of the whole trade union movement,” he said.

“This is just the latest episode of Setka and the CFMEU construction division putting their personal agenda first – spending members’ money to settle a grudge and failing to act in the collective interests of members and the union movement.”

Michael O'Connor. Picture: David Geraghty

Mr O’Connor, the brother of federal Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor, resigned as the union’s national secretary in 2020 following a campaign by construction and maritime division officials, including Mr Setka, to force him out.

“Since 2019, the construction division has continually attacked your manufacturing division and forced us to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars defending our members’ rights,” Mr O’Connor told members.

“This betrayal of the interests of members by the construction division is one reason the manufacturing division continues to pursue a vote of members on whether you want the manufacturing division to withdraw from the CFMEU circus.”

Mr Setka did not respond to requests for comment about Mr O’Connor’s statement on Sunday. He is due to address construction workers at Festival Hall in ­Melbourne on Monday about a draft new agreement that provides for annual 5 per cent wage increases.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said she had started an investigation in relation to Mr Setka’s comments last week but said it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.

The national executive of the CFMEU construction division will this week meet to discuss supporting Mr Setka’s bid to wage the work-to-rule campaign.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Sunday that the CFMEU was “full of people who have been convicted by the courts”.

“I don’t understand how they have any standing in society,” he said. “Bob Hawke would have stood up to John Setka in a heartbeat. Anthony Albanese hasn’t got the backbone to stand up to John Setka and the other union bullies.”

Responding to Mr Setka’s threat to disrupt AFL projects, federal Trade Minister Don Farrell, an ambassador for the Adelaide Crows, said he wanted to see the club’s new headquarters built.

“I’ll certainly be pushing to make sure that that goes ahead, and that there’s nothing John Setka does to stop the construction of the Adelaide Crows’ new headquarters down here in Thebarton,” he said

West Australian Premier Roger Cook said that he did not endorse Mr Setka’s position. “I don’t endorse these sorts of ­tactics. It’s not what we do today,” he said. “It’s not part of the modern industrial relations landscape. This won’t impact on Western Australia, and I don’t want to give it any more oxygen than it ­deserves,” he said.