Employers flag High Court bid to stop CFMEU merger

Resource employers threaten High Court action in bid to scuttle CFMEU merger after losing bid to delay amalgamation.

AMMA chief executive Steve Knott.

Employers have threatened High Court action in a bid to scuttle the merger of the construction and maritime unions after the Fair Work Commission rejected their bid to delay the amalgamation.

Commission vice-president Adam Hatcher yesterday rejected a stay application by the Australian Mines and Metals Association designed to stop the merger taking effect on March 27.

A commission full bench will next month hear the AMMA ­appeal of an earlier ruling ­approving the merger of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Maritime Union of Australia.

AMMA chief executive Steve Knott said his organisation had the support of members to litigate all future appeal proceedings, including a High Court challenge if necessary.

Mr Hatcher said although the AMMA appeal was “arguable with some prospects of success, the balance of convenience does not weigh in favour of the grant of a stay order”.

Under the merger, the ­nation’s two most militant ­unions will join into a 144,000-member super union, with combined assets of $310 million and annual revenue of $146m.

The Turnbull government is lobbying Senate crossbenchers to support a bill to subject union mergers to a public interest test.

Employers have criticised the government for not getting the bill passed before the commission approved the merger earlier this month.

David Leyonhjelm indicated he would support the bill but other crossbenchers said they had yet to determine their positions.

“As a Liberal Democrat, my default position on (subjecting union amalgamations to a public interest test) would be to oppose it,’’ he said. “It is up to the members of each union to decide whether it is in their best interests to merge, not the government.”

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the bill would give “unprecedented powers” to big businesses, lobby groups and the “politicised” Registered ­Organisations Commission.