Tony Abbott running scared from us, says CFMEU

The construction union is spearheading an international legal challenge to the Fair Work building inspectorate.

Dave Noonan, National Secretary of the CFMEU. Picture: Kym Smith

The construction union is spearheading an international legal challenge to the Fair Work building inspectorate, claiming 500 of its officials face prosecution by the industry watchdog.

In a mostly defiant speech to the construction union’s national conference in Queensland yesterday, national secretary Dave Noonan conceded Fair Work Building and Construction and the trade union royal commission were among the “challenges” the union faced.

However, the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union had waged a successful campaign on the China free-trade agreement “led” by national secretary Michael O’Connor which had Tony Abbott “running scared”, Mr Noonan added.

The ACTU yesterday confirmed it had agreed to file a complaint with the UN international labour organisation after Mr Noonan used his speech to call for action over the FWBC’s “ blatant attempt to intimidate workers who take a stand for safety, jobs, wages and conditions”.

The FWBC said last month it had a record 52 cases before the courts across Australia.

“The union and its officers are facing dozens of cases for doing no more than organising and representing workers,” Mr Noonan said.

“These prosecutions blatantly offend Australia’s obligations under conventions of the International Labour Organisation.”

Mr Noonan also yesterday thanked Mr O’Connor for helping defeat the government’s bill to resurrect the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which would have even greater powers than Labor’s FWBC.

“We were successful in persuading the Senate to reject the ABCC legislation ... I particularly want to thank Michael O’Connor for his advocacy with the crossbenches and our legal officer Tom Roberts for the work he has done on submissions.

“In defending the union, the construction division has had the full support of the forestry and mining and energy divisions of our union. I thank Michael O’Connor and Tony Maher and the officers of those divisions of the union for their great solidarity.”

Branding the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption “an entirely political exercise”, Mr Noonan labelled commissioner Dyson Heydon “ancient” and “ultra-right wing”.

He attacked the police taskforce attached to the royal commission, which has arrested three unionists. “Political pressure should not influence the police in the conduct of their duties,” Mr Noonan said, although he conceded there had been some “serious issues” in the union “before and after the commission”.

“We meet in challenging times for our union …. That’s part and parcel of being a strong, effective and militant union at a time where corporate power, greed and arrogance is at historic levels all over the world.

“We’re not backing down and we’re not going away; the CFMEU is here to stay.”

Mr Noonan also called on the global union federations of construction workers to support the ILO complaint. A spokeswoman for the FWBC said it was not appropriate to comment.