Labor to introduce laws to break up CFMEU
The Albanese government will introduce laws into parliament next week allowing the CFMEU’s manufacturing division to split from the broader union.
The Albanese government will introduce laws allowing the CFMEU’s manufacturing division to split from the broader union as ACTU secretary Sally McManus accused John Setka of waging “personal vendettas”.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said the legislation to be introduced into parliament next week would allow the manufacturing division to achieve its long-held aim to quit the “dysfunctional” amalgamated union.
Sources said the government had been working on the legislation for weeks and it followed Senate crossbencher Jacqui Lambie introducing a bill to allow the manufacturing division to demerge. But sources said the government decision to proceed with the laws next week was in response to Mr Setka’s threats against the AFL. “A few years ago the mining division had the opportunity to vote on its future – and it chose to leave,” Mr Burke told The Australian. “This bill will provide the same opportunity to the manufacturing division.
“We will provide the opportunity for members of the manufacturing division to vote on their future, because the status-quo is dysfunctional and cannot continue. Our laws will do what the Coalition’s previous laws should have. The members in the manufacturing decision include workers in largely feminised industries like textiles – and it’s not hard to see why those members might want to vote to leave.”
Breaking her silence on the week-long controversy over Mr Setka’s threats against former building watchdog and AFL head of umpiring Stephen McBurney, Ms McManus backed the government move while attacking Mr Setka. “There are unique circumstances at the CFMEU and the government is providing an opportunity for members of the manufacturing division to vote on going their own way,” she said. “It has become clear that this issue cannot be resolved any other way.”
She said unionism was about improving people’s working lives and living standards.
“Unions across the country are focused on what matters to working people, their wages, secure and safe jobs. Mr Setka’s personal grudges have led to parts of his union wanting to leave. There is no place for the conduct of personal vendettas in our movement.”
The manufacturing division, led by former national secretary Michael O’Connor, has struggled in the courts to split from the CFMEU. The new bill will allow the manufacturing division to demerge from the CFMEU, if supported by a secret ballot of members.
During the Senate vote on the government’s Closing Loopholes Bill earlier this year, Senator Lambie unsuccessfully moved amendments that would have allowed for a ballot of the largely female textile workers to quit the union and “give them freedom from John Setka”. She attacked Labor and the Greens for refusing to support the move, accusing them of being beholden to Mr Setka.
The mining and energy division has successfully split from the CFMEU following a similar collapse in relations with Mr Setka. If the laws pass, and the ballot succeeds, the CFMEU will be left with just the construction and maritime divisions.
The federal Coalition intends to bring its own bill into parliament next week to allow manufacturing division members to split from the CFMEU. Opposition employment spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said the “outrageous recent behaviour of Mr Setka highlighted the need to protect vulnerable workers from the CFMEU”. “These members of the manufacturing division are mostly women and they have wanted out of the CFMEU for a long time,’’ she said.
Mr O’Connor this week accused Mr 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 Mr McBurney as the league’s head of umpiring.
Mr O’Connor, 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 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.”
Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth has commenced an investigation into Mr Setka’s threats against the AFL. It is understood the probe is examining whether his attacks on the AFL constitute potential breaches of the Fair Work Act.
Victorian building union leaders, including the Electrical Trades Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, are to meet at Victorian Trades Hall Council on Wednesday to discuss their next move in support of Mr Setka. The meeting was meant to discuss their next move against the AFL but the government decision to fast-track demerger laws and the public intervention of the ACTU in opposition to Mr Setka will likely change their agenda.
More Coverage
Teen arrested after shopping centre stabbing
A teenage boy has been arrested and a crime scene declared after a woman was stabbed at a Queensland shopping centre on Monday evening.
Intimate portrait of a genius … captured in the artworks and objects he truly loved
The late satirist and comedian Barry Humphries’ private collection of art and objects will be sold in London next month. His son reflects on his father’s passion for beauty.