Federal election 2016: CFMEU labourers on $150,000 a year

Labourers on the nation’s building sites are being paid vastly more than teachers, police officers and nurses.

 

Workers on the nation’s building sites are being paid “reckless” wages under union agreements, with labourers earning vastly more than teachers, police officers and nurses.

Malcolm Turnbull yesterday branded agreements between the militant construction union and building firms as “shocking”, vowing that the Coalition “will stop” the 15 per cent, three-yearly wage rises built into deals if it wins the July 2 election.

As employer groups warned that the demands of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union would put stress on state and federal budgets, The Aus­tralian can reveal certain construction workers along the eastern seaboard are being paid up to 85 per cent above award rates.

Carpenters on union enterprise agreements struck under the Queensland Palaszczuk government last year are being paid $160,702, compared with the award of $87,064 for a 55-hour week including overtime and other benefits, an analysis commissioned by The Australian has revealed. Those in NSW are paid $152,002. Wages are higher still in Vic­toria, where a carpenter is paid $163,000 for a 51-hour week, figures published by Master Builders Victoria show.

On a 40-hour week, the basic pay for a carpenter on a CFMEU deal is $85,402 in Queensland and $80,356 in NSW — far above the award of $49,110 and far above the average annual take-home pay for a teacher at $66,000 for a 42-hour week or $61,000 for a firefighter. Police officers take home $56,000 a year and registered nurses are paid $55,000 for a 35-hour week.

Skilled labourers on union deals also earn top-tier salaries. A labourer earns $152,002 for a 51-hour week in Victoria on the CFMEU EBA, $145,000 in Queensland, and $139,000 in NSW for a 55-hour week. A worker doing the same job earns $80,760 on the award.

Pattern agreements orchestrated by the CFMEU have come under scrutiny after construction firms with government contracts signed up to 5 per cent yearly pay rises in Victoria. A similar deal in Labor-controlled Queensland took effect in April. The NSW CFMEU agreement took effect in March last year. Wage growth has hit record lows, with pay rising just 0.4 per cent in the last quarter and 2.1 per cent over the past year.

Pressed yesterday by Alan Jones on 2GB radio about the ­“excesses” of union enterprise agreements, the Prime Minister said: “We will stop that ... that’s why we’re having a double-dissolution (election)”.

Mr Turnbull added that the ­Coalition’s proposed industry watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, was “the only way we can get the rule of law restored in the construction sector, and the building code re-established that ensures that you don’t get these, you know, shocking agreements between the CFMEU and builders, where they are basically stood over.”

Wilhelm Harnisch, chief executive of Master Builders Australia, said the wages paid to construction workers under the EBAs did “not pass the pub test and are reckless to the community and the economy … when you have a low inflation and generally low wage growth environment”. Union agreements “pose major industrial relations risks to the construction industry at a time when … commonwealth and state budgets (are) under stress”, he added.