No more union splits under ALP, says Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese will repeal union demerger laws if he becomes prime minister.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese. Picture: Morgan Sette

Anthony Albanese will repeal union demerger laws if he becomes prime minister, with the policy to be enshrined in the ALP’s policy platform at next week’s “virtual” national conference.

The move from the Labor leader will mean the mining and energy division of the CFMEU will be able to use the Morrison government’s laws — passed with bipartisan support in parliament in December — to break away from the militant construction division, but an Albanese government would prevent breakaways in other amalgamated unions.

In a major win for unions, opposition industrial relations spokesman Tony Burke said the policy was in line with Labor’s failed push for the government’s laws to have a 12 month sunset clause.

“The whole concept of a union is meant to be that people have made a decision to be together and to stick together, you had a very unusual situation within the CFMEU,” Mr Burke told The Weekend Australian.

“You want to maintain the presumption that, in the ordinary event, once organisations have made decisions to be together, then that decision is locked-in and they work from that time as a united union.

“There were specific issues with the mining union, we carried the legislation that facilitated that, our position was always that it should run for 12 months.”

Mr Albanese has been at loggerheads with powerful Victorian construction union boss John Setka, after forcing him out of the ALP in 2019 when he was convicted of harassing his wife.

On Friday, the mining and energy division of the CFMEU, which is supportive of Mr Albanese, lodged paperwork with the Fair Work Commission to apply to split from the militant union.

“The Mining and Energy Division is financially secure, well managed and able to stand alone as an independent union,” the division said in a statement to members.

“Benefits we once enjoyed, like enhanced political influence and campaigning capacity, have been destroyed through personal vendettas and grabs for power.”

A member ballot — expected to be held in months rather than weeks — will be the next step in the exit process, with the Fair Work Commission to determine timing.

If a majority of members vote “yes” to split from the CFMEU, all members will be transferred to a stand-alone Mining and Energy union. Over the weekend, senior Labor figures and union bosses will be in 11th-hour negotiations over the more than 250 amendments that have been proposed to the draft policy platform, ahead of the two-day conference beginning Tuesday.

The Weekend Australian has been told members of Mr Albanese’s shadow cabinet are trying to strike a deal with the Electrical Trades Union to avoid a vote on trade at national conference.

Sources say the ETU has submitted a hardline amendment on worker protections in free-trade deals that, if adopted, would make it difficult for a future Labor government to be part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

The Morrison government will “work towards” ratifying RCEP this year, with the agreement covering 14 other Indo-Pacific nations, including India, China, Japan and the ASEAN nations.

There are concerns within Labor that, if a vote went ahead on the ETU amendment at national conference, the proposal could make the platform given the strong hostility from the trade union movement towards free-trade deals.

Unions were furious Mr Albanese backed the Trans-Pacific Partnership.