National president Tony Maher quits ‘impossibly divided and dysfunctional’ CFMEU

National president Tony Maher accuses the union’s construction division of bullying as the influential mining division breaks away from the CFMEU.

Former CFMEU national president Tony Maher.

CFMEU national president Tony Maher has quit, accusing the union’s construction division of bullying, and declaring the union “impossibly divided and dysfunctional with no repair in sight”.

Claiming the construction division has torn down the leadership of the recently departed national secretary Michael O’Connor, Mr Maher said the mining and energy division would join the manufacturing division in boycotting CFMEU forums.

In resolutions passed on Tuesday, the mining and energy division’s central council condemned the undermining of Mr O’Connor’s leadership and announced it would operate as an autonomous union, withdrawing involvement in CFMEU forums and activities.

Mr Maher said the mining division’s general secretary, Grahame Kelly, had also quit as CFMEU national vice-president

Mr O’Connor resigned on November 5 following a campaign by construction and maritime division officials, including Victorian secretary John Setka, to force him out,

Supporters of Mr O’Connor said earlier no-confidence motions against him were “revenge” by Mr Setka, who remains angry that Mr O’Connor did not publicly support him after Mr Setka was charged with harassing his wife, and the Labor Party moved to expel him.

Mr Maher said he would remain as general president of the mining and energy division but it would not participate in the union’s national executive “for the foreseeable future”

“My view, shared by our central council, is that there is no benefit in continuing in a national leadership role in circumstances where our biggest division (construction) has decided to simply use its numbers to bully and steamroll smaller divisions,” he said.

Mr Maher, who had been part of the national leadership team since amalgamation in 1993, said the current state of the union did not reflect the spirit of solidarity, consensus and shared vision that has been cultivated over the past decade.

“Rather, the CFMEU has become impossibly divided and dysfunctional with no repair in sight”.

The resolution expressed disappointment with Mr O’Connor’s resignation, and “note our disdain for those parts of our union who have blatantly attacked the smaller branches and torn down Michael’s leadership”.

It said the mining and energy division will operate as an autonomous and independent federal union within the CFMEU until its “next steps‘ ’ are determined at its national convention in March next year.