International building unions condemn CFMEU takeover

Building unions representing 12 million construction workers have accused Labor of denying the union its right to a fair trial.

A CFMEU rally from Belmore Park to NSW Parliament House in Sydney this week. Picture: Monique Harmer/NewsWire.

International building unions representing 12 million construction workers in 140 countries have condemned the Albanese government’s CFMEU takeover, accusing Labor of breaching labour conventions and denying the union its right to a fair trial.

The Building and Wood Workers International “strongly condemned” the government’s decision to pass legislation appointing an administrator to take over the CFMEU’s construction and general division, a BWI affiliate.

At a meeting in Geneva, the BWI’s world board passed a resolution stating the government passed the legislation despite the courts not having substantively heard the bid by “Australia’s independent workplace regulator”, the Fair Work Commission, to place the union into administration.

The world board said there had been no allegations, charges or even inferences of wrongdoing made against the vast majority of the 270 officials and office holders removed from office.

It said none of the allegations against the union including infiltration of crime figures and accusations of corrupt conduct had yet to be judged in criminal or civil courts.

“The World Board states clearly and unequivocally that BWI opposes in the strongest terms any penetration of trade unions by criminal organisations,” the resolution says.

“Likewise corrupt conduct by any union official or representative must be condemned in the strongest terms and action must be taken to remove any corrupt individual from the union movement. BWI unequivocally states that crime and corruption have no place in the union movement.

“BWI also unequivocally states that such allegations must be dealt with by an independent judiciary – not by politicians. The CFMEU has been stripped of its right to a trial and its right to the presumption of innocence.”

Dave Noonan, the CFMEU’s former national construction secretary and vice-president of the BWI’s Asia-Pacific division, said delegates from Europe and many developing companies were shocked the government took the action despite the matters not being tested in court.

“I think the resolution clearly shows there is widespread international concern about the ramifications of this legislation, particularly about the fact these extreme measures have been taken to effectively steal an organisation from its members’ control, based on allegations which haven’t been tested in a court of law,” he said.

He said the legislation was in breach of several International Labour Organisation conventions that Australia had ratified.