Business fears CFMEU will act as cop on superannuation payments

Master Builders Australia says a new app allows the ­‘serial’ law-breaking construction union to act as ‘quasi debt collectors’.

Master Builders Australia chief executive Denita Wawn. Picture: Kym Smith

Master Builders Australia has ­attacked a new app developed by the $57 billion construction industry super fund Cbus to track ­employer superannuation contributions, claiming it allows the ­“serial” law-breaking construction union to act as “quasi debt collectors”.

The MBA’s opposition has caused fresh tensions on the Cbus board, which has an equal number of union and employer representatives plus an independent director. At least two-thirds of ­directors must agree to pass board resolutions.

The board’s employer representatives are sponsored by the MBA and include its chief executive, Denita Wawn, its president, Hedley Davis, and former president Scott Beynon.

The password-protected app, which had been trialled in ­Victoria, allows union delegates to scan a member’s card or search an employer account to see whether a member’s super payments are up to date.

MBA deputy chief executive Shaun Schmitke said members were concerned the checker would allow the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union to access data of industry employers on non-union sites.

“Master Builders will always support innovative approaches to improving compliance levels, but we share our members’ concerns about using the CFMEU as quasi-debt collectors,” Mr Schmitke told The Australian “This is the very same union that the Heydon royal commission criticised for pressuring Cbus into disclosing the private details of its members to assist the union to pursue its ­industrial agenda.

“It’s the same union with an appalling history of bullying workers and small business to sign on to union deals, and the same union well known for targeting non-union worksites and workers.”

He said the risk the app could be “exploited to perpetuate this illegal conduct is very, very real”. “I wouldn’t want the CFMEU to have unfettered ­access to ­details about my superannuation and it makes no sense to give any compliance power to an organisation the courts identify as recidivist and a serial breaker of workplace laws,” he said.

The CFMEU accused the MBA of lending support to “dishonest employers who steal workers’ wages”. “It’s disappointing that the MBA does nothing to address endemic wage theft, ­instead choosing to attack those who stand up for workers and to undermine the businesses of those many honest employers who pay their workers’ super and other wages lawfully,” the union said.

Cbus said unions must sign a memorandum of understanding relating to the usage of the app’s information, and access could be terminated for misuse.

Cbus group executive Robbie Campo said the fund disagreed with MBA’s comments about how the checker worked.

“No member data can be ­accessed without the explicit ­permission and presence of the member,” she said. “Otherwise, all the app provides is limited, anonymised ­information which is subject to strict controls and monitoring. The app has been ­developed with extensive legal and privacy due diligence.”

She said thousands of members had had their super checked through the app and there had been no misuse. Cbus would work with “our partners” at the MBA to address the concerns. “Unpaid super is a $6bn a year problem in Australia and the building and construction workers miss out on more super than in any other ­industry,” Ms Campo said.