Qld CFMEU’s construction division vows to campaign against Premier Palaszczuk

CFMEU’s powerful construction division threatens to campaign against Labor at next election.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: AAP

Queensland Minister Kate Jones has ordered the Cross River Rail builder and delivery authority to “fix” industrial relations on the $5.4bn project, after the CFMEU threatened to campaign against Labor at the next election over alleged “mismanagement”.

CFMEU construction division state secretary Michael Ravbar, a member of Labor’s national executive, and hundreds of unionists marched on parliament on Wednesday, demanding the government overhaul the running of the state’s biggest infrastructure project.

Mr Ravbar warned Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk to expect protests to follow her around the state next week and the imminent launch of a critical media campaign.

CFMEU marches on Parliament House. "They work for us and they should never forget it." Angry at the Cross River Rail. #qldpol pic.twitter.com/WammnwkISE

— Jessica Marszalek (@JessMarie_News) November 27, 2019

He also threatened to redirect the might of the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union to campaign against Labor at the next state election in October, and left the door open to withdrawing financial support.

“We’ve done that before, we did that with (former Labor premier) Anna Bligh, a similar thing with the airport tunnel, it’s like deja vu, history has a habit of repeating itself,” Mr Ravbar said.

“We didn’t support the Labor government in that campaign in 2012 … if their policies and what they stand for a wrong, we don’t care who they are.”

“We’ll leave no stone unturned, we’ll be very creative, and the long game will be right up to the election.”

CFMEU Queensland boss Michael Ravbar. Picture: Mark Cranitch

He alleged the Cross River Rail delivery authority and the main contractor, CPB, were not promoting apprentices and trainee positions, had no measures to prevent the use of unsafe building products, and no requirement to promote indigenous employment.

The delivery authority and government rejected each of the claims. The authority said there was a requirement to deliver the equivalent of 450 apprentices and trainees over the life of the project, and 23 have already been employed.

Underlying Mr Ravbar’s discontent is ongoing wage negotiations by the union, trying to secure a better deal for its members working on the Brisbane public transport project. The CFMEU had reportedly been seeking wage increases of five per cent, year on year, but that figure has been disputed by the union.

“It’s too big a project to allow the government to do the wrong thing by workers and their families,” Mr Ravbar said.

“The construction industry is a big employer of people, and it’s a big voting base too. If you don’t look after your working class base, this Labor Party has got some big issues ahead of it.”

After the noisy protest outside the gates of parliament – in which Mr Ravbar criticised Ms Jones, her predecessor Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, and Ms Palaszczuk – the union met with Ms Jones.

The meeting was described as “tough” but talks are expected to continue.

In a written statement, Ms Jones said she wanted the job done “on time and on budget”.

“I’ve met with the contractor and delivery authority and made it very clear that I expect them to fix industrial relations on this project.”

The Electrical Trades Union has also raised concerns about the management of the Cross River Rail.

Mr Ravbar was led another protest on parliament earlier this year criticising Ms Trad when she was responsible minister, at the height of an integrity scandal sparked by her failure to properly declare an investment property.

She was later stripped of responsibility for the public transport project by Ms Palaszczuk, after the Deputy Premier was criticised by the Crime and Corruption Commission but cleared of dishonesty and corruption.