No law is going to stop merger: departing CFMEU president

Outgoing construction union boss Joe McDonald has declared that ‘no law, nothing is going to stop us’.

Outgoing CFMEU boss Joe McDonald. Picture: Colin Murty

Outgoing construction union boss Joe McDonald has declared that “no law, nothing is going to stop us” ahead of a planned merger with the Maritime Union of Australia.

Speaking last Friday, Mr McDonald offered his thoughts on the merger between the MUA and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union arguing it would bring together the “venom of a cobra and the weight of an anchor”.

“Nothing is going to stop us. No law. Nothing,” Mr McDonald said.

The video which was recorded and uploaded on social media also shows Mr McDonald questioning what “f..king scabs” would tell their grandchildren and families for breaking picket lines.

According to the Australian Building and Construction Commission, Mr McDonald — who spent 33 years in the union movement — holds the record for the highest total penalties awarded against an individual in matters prosecuted by the watchdog and its predecessors.

The total penalties imposed on Mr McDonald since November 2006 amount to just over $199,000 and he has also been named as a respondent in 18 matters brought forward by the construction watchdog.

This includes the findings against Mr McDonald in May when the Federal Court penalised the CFMEU and seven officials for halting work at the $1.2 billion Perth Children’s Hospital project.

In a blog posted to the CFMEU website on Monday, the union said that “if Joe was asked to say one word that described his time in the union it would undoubtedly be ‘militant’ ”.

Mr McDonald stepped down as the CFMEU national president last Friday. “Joe has devoted 33 years (of) his life to core union and social values ... He has taken on the big end of town, their representatives and conservative politicians, never apologising for his actions or the consequences,” the post said.

The Turnbull government is yet to win crossbench support for legislation that could scuttle the merger by applying it to a public interest test that would examine the compliance of both parties with workplace laws.

The shake-up would also prevent officials from holding office if they were found not to be a “fit and proper person,” had broken industrial laws or repeatedly failed to stop their organisation from breaching workplace laws. Resource industry leaders have argued in favour of the public interest test.