Employers slam CFMEU’s 25pc pay deal with Multiplex

Business groups warn the CFMEU strategy will hurt consumers and drive up project costs.

CFMEU National Secretary Zach Smith has accused employers of scaremongering over the union’s new 25 per cent pay deal with Multiplex in Western Australia.

Employer groups have slammed the CFMEU for seeking to spread a 25 per cent pay deal with Multiplex in Western Australia across the state building sector, warning the increased labour costs will affect consumers and drive up the price of projects.

The CFMEU said the four-year agreement, which includes an upfront 10 per cent pay rise and three annual 5 per cent rises, was a “benchmark” that it would move to replicate across the state’s construction industry.

Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said he was “alarmed” by the significant pay rises in the agreement.

“They are out of whack with where inflation is trending, have no clear productivity trade-offs and fly in the face of the RBA’s hope for wage moderation to help fight inflation over the longer term,” he said. “The CFMEU will now obviously push to replicate these increases across the sector … Significant parts of the construction sector are now under real stress and big pay increases will only add to greater volatility.”

The agreement will lift the annual pay of a ­Multiplex level 3 construction worker on a 56-hour week from $151,936 to $194,400 by January 2027, for an after tax yearly difference of $25,715 or $494 weekly.

“It should come as no surprise that the CFMEU is pursuing industry-wide pattern bargaining arrangements that force builders into adopting their one size fits all deals,” Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn said.

CFMEU construction division national secretary Zach Smith accused the employer groups of waging the “same old tired ideological wars”. “Workers are being smashed by a cost-of-living crisis yet we’re expected to cop permanent wage restraint,” he said.

“Ridiculous scaremongering about rising consumer costs needs to be called out for what it is – a shameless attempt to turn workers against each other.”