Builders back pact on wages: CFMEU

CFMEU says more than 100 construction firms are to sign bargaining agreements that stipulate 5 per cent yearly pay rises.

CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan. Picture: Kym Smith

More than 100 Canberra construction firms are primed to sign pattern bargaining agreements that stipulate 5 per cent yearly pay rises, the militant construction union claims.

The companies will join top tier builders who have signed pattern agreements this year with the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in Queensland and Vic­toria that stipulate similar above-inflation wage rises.

The union is also demanding 6 per cent yearly wage rises in South Australia — where an agreement is still under negotiation — along with generous ­allowances that threaten to add millions to the cost of taxpayer-funded projects.

Master Builders Australia’s ACT branch said a group of Canberra builders had taken a stand against the CFMEU’s deal, with 20 firms vowing to reject the deal.

However CFMEU secretary Dave Noonan told The Australian those builders were small players who “bear little resemblance to the major sectors of the industry”.

He described the group as ­belonging to the “chook shed” part of the industry. “We’re in negotiations with 100 major contractors, including the big players. Those negotiations are progressing well,” Mr Noonan said.

An agreement was expected in the coming weeks, he said.

The CFMEU’s ACT branch came under the spotlight during the trade union royal commission as contractors complained that they were being pressured to enter into union agreements or face ­“intimidation” by officials.

Competition authorities began an investigation following the commission into allegations of price-fixing in the industry.

Master Builders ACT executive director Kirk Coningham said yesterday: “We are in for a long fight. But the courage shown at the royal commission has become contagious and our teams are more determined than ever that the bullying and thuggery they have endured for the past 10 years won’t be part of the next.”

However he added the stand had come at “significant cost”, citing the ACT government’s decision not to use local civil contractors for its light rail project, the biggest in Canberra’s history.

Under a memorandum of understanding with the territory government, unions are given the names of companies and contractors tendering for taxpayer-­funded business.

The head contractor chosen for the Canberra light rail project, John Holland, which is owned by China Communications Construction Company, is understood to be signing up to the CFMEU agreement. It reportedly plans to directly employ 250 workers to build the light rail, and its likely wages far above the industry standard will apply.

Some of the nation’s biggest lead contractors including Brookfield Multiplex and Probuild have signed up to CFMEU deals this year.