Federal Court rejects employers to approve CFMEU mega union

The Federal Court has rejected a legal challenge by employers to the merger of the construction, maritime and textile unions.

CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor.

The Federal Court has rejected a legal challenge by employers to the merger of the construction, maritime and textile unions, cementing the legal authority of the militant super union.

A three-member bench today dismissed the bid by the Australian Mines and Metals Association to overturn a Fair Commission decision approving the creation of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union.

But the court rejected the employer argument that the commission had made a jurisdictional error by approving the merger.

CFMEU national secretary Michael O’Connor said the Federal Court decision not only vindicated the union’s position, but also exposed employer groups — in particular the AMMA and Master Builders Australia — for wasting their members’ money waging an ideological battle against the merger.

“Our argument throughout has been that the democratic will of union members should decide how our union is structured, bargains, and represents their interests, not employer groups using legal technicalities to serve their vested interests,” Mr O’Connor said.

“Today’s Federal Court decision has vindicated that argument, it has cemented the merger that formed the CFMEU, and it has made clear to employers that they do not get to decide how workers choose to represent their interests.”

MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin criticised the employer groups for challenging the merger.

“The AMMA and MBA stuck their nose into working people’s business and today the Federal Court has given them a well-deserved whack for their trouble,” Mr Crumlin said.

“Like the industrial dinosaurs they are they have again confirmed their point of extinction has arrived. They are an embarrassment really, fools unto themselves and a danger to others.

“These extremist employer groups wasted millions of dollars of their members’ money, along with the time and resources of the Federal Court, waging an ideological war right out of the 1980s.

“Australia’s workplace laws have become so skewed in favour of big business that they actually believed employers should have the right to decide how workers get to bargain and represent themselves.”