Thousands take part in unauthorised construction worker strikes despite warnings
There were wild scenes on the streets of multiple cities as thousands of protesters supporting the embattled CFMEU chanted “f**k Albo” and “hands off our union”.
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Tens of thousands of unionists have chanted “hands off our union” in unauthorised rallies across the country in support of the embattled CFMEU, after it was forced into administration by the government.
In Sydney, construction workers cheered and applauded sacked CFMEU NSW secretary Darren Greenfield as he addressed the rally outside state parliament on Tuesday.
He slammed the Labor Party after the federal government forced the CFMEU into administration last week, calling Prime Minister Anthony Albanese a “dirty rotten bastard”.
The federal government last week passed a Bill giving it powers to force parts of the union, which has been dogged by allegations of widespread corruption and links to organised crime, into administration after securing a deal with the Coalition.
Mr Greenfield lost his job as the CFMEU NSW boss on Friday after the union’s construction and general arms were compelled to accept the Fair Work-appointed administrator.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Mr Greenfield told the crowd.
The crowd chanted ‘f**k Albo’ and ‘hands off our union’.
Similar scenes have unfolded in other capital cities across the country.
In Brisbane, offices were locked down as demonstrations kicked off at Queens Gardens.
Members of other unions turned out to show their support, with Queensland’s Electrical Trades Union deputy secretary Peter Ong telling protesters the “criminals in the building and construction industry are the builders and developers”.
“The trade union movement in this country is under attack,” Mr Ong said.
Meanwhile in Melbourne, a sea of high-vis gathered outside the Fair Work Commission chanting “f**k the ALP”.
The Fair Work Ombudsman on Monday warned that if a worker “fails to attend the workplace or stops work without authorisation from their employer, this conduct may be unprotected industrial action in contravention of the (Fair Work) Act”.
Some travelled from as far as Albany, a coastal city on Western Australia’s southern tip, to join the ranks of at least 1000 flag-wielding protesters in Perth.
“Who built this city? We did!” they chanted as they marched through Perth’s CBD.
“CFMEU here for good.
“What do we do when we’re under attack? Stand up fight back!”
CFMEU WA state secretary Mick Buchan said the Perth rally was driven by rank and file members whose message is: “we are the CFMEU, and we built these buildings.”
Mr Buchan said they had to wait and see what the administration process would deliver, but as far as WA went, he said it was “sketchy”.
He said they would know more in the next couples of weeks.
“The CFMEU is one construction and general division, we are a very tight bunch, and it is absolutely upsetting and alarming that people that I have worked alongside for the last 25 years have now lost their jobs,” Mr Buchan said.
“They are very good people who have done very good things.
“It is not a very good look for the public to see a federal government carry on like this.
“Is it over? No it is not over, the CFMEU has been here for the last 160 years and my guess is we’ll be here for another 160 years because there is too much work to do.
“We are the ones who work day and night looking after our industry, looking after our workers and members and whatever circumstances they are in.”
Australian Manufacturers Workers Union joined the Perth rally with state secretary Steve McCartney saying the last thing they wanted was a bit of legislation that could attack workers in such a way.
“It is a real overstep by the ALP and I am concerned when the Tories get in, they are going to change the parameters and we’ll be having more of these marches,” he said.
“I knew the Labor government would take some sort of action, because at the end of the day no one wants criminality in their workplace.
“I don’t know if their method was the right one.”
Maritime Union Australia WA branch secretary Will Tracey said the legislation been brought down by the Australian Labor Party was an affront to well-established principals of justice for all Australians.
“To deny basic rights to the CFMEU on the back of allegations, because at this stage that is all they are,” he said.
“It is unbelievable for any government but for the Labor Party, you have got to be f…king kidding.
“Where does it stop?”
Mr Tracey told NewsWire two officials in NSW have been charged with corruption and that should work its way through the courts.
“There is no place for corruption or criminal conducts in the unions,” he said.
“If there are allegations of corruption and criminal conduct than those charges should be proven, and those people should have their day in court as every other Australian gets if they commit a crime.
“We see huge examples of corporate misconduct and corporate criminality and corporate fraud as identified at Crown Casino and in the aged care industry and at the Royal Commission into the financial services industry.
“We don’t see administrators being appointed there.”
Mr Tracey said for the broader trade union movement, the ability to sack the entire leadership of an organsiation and put it into administration off the back of allegations was an absolute outrage.
“We are opposed to what is going on we think there will be broader reach because Labor has established a principle on the basis of allegations in the media, you can put a union in administration.
“It’s a real problem for us.”
Earlier, Prime Miniser Anthony Albanese defended the government’s move to clean up the CFMEU which has been the subject of bullying and corruption allegations.
Echoing the Fair Work Ombudsman’s words, Mr Albanese warned there would be “consequences” if people walked off the job for the rallies and defended his government’s action on the CFMEU as being “in the interests of all trade unionists”.
“We respect the work that construction workers do,” he told reporters from the Western Sydney Airport construction site.
“It’s a tough job and they do magnificent work, including here at this wonderful airport. “What we want to do, though, is to make sure that their union is free of corruption.”
Pressed on whether forcing the CFMEU into administration cut back the ability of workers to unionise, Mr Albanese said the goal was “proper trade unionism”.
“You need to have unions in the building industry, it’s a dangerous industry,” he said.
“But what we want to do is to make sure that they have a union that’s worthy of the incredible work that construction workers do.”
Mr Albanese also said: “If there is unprotected industrial action, then there are consequences for that.”
Shortly after Mr Albanese’s comments, NSW Police said it was responding to an unauthorised protest in Sydney’s CBD, with “rolling road closures” along Macquarie St and Elizabeth St towards Hyde Park.
Some 300 CFMEU officials have been stood down since the union entered administration last week.
While Tuesday’s rallies have received backing from some unions, the CFMEU administrator has distanced itself from any strikes, with a spokesman saying that taking “unprotected industrial action is not lawful” and the union is “no longer involved” in the protests.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers weighed in on the protests, telling the ABC the government was expecting some “blowback” for its action against the CFMEU but urged protesters to be “peaceful”.
He said that “when you appoint an administrator to a union and you move on a couple of hundred officials, there’s going to be blowback.”
“We want these protests to be peaceful today, but they’re not surprising when you take on the leaders of a union with the sorts of behaviour that has been alleged in recent times,” he said.
Originally published as Thousands take part in unauthorised construction worker strikes despite warnings
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