Ned K.
Nearly 30 years to the day (Wednesday 13 April) of the de-registration of the BLF, construction workers at a Lend Lease construction site in Brisbane went on strike when Lend Lease removed the workers' Eureka flag (symbol of their union CFMEU) from the site.
More than 90 workers took the strike action despite it being "unprotected action" under the ruling class's Fair Work Act.
The Australian Financial Review reported on Friday 15 April that the company ran to the Fair Work Commission to get the predictable Order for the workers to end the strike. However the workers had made their point and while they lost wages Lend Lease lost whatever small amount of credibility it may have had for showing such a lack of respect for workers.
Perhaps Lend Lease provoked this strike action on purpose a week out from Turnbull trying to pass the ABCC laws in federal parliament. Or perhaps it was an act of disrespect towards builders’ labourers.
The deregistration of the BLF 30 years ago was supposed to restore 'law and order' to construction sites and the employers and government hoped to turn the CFMEU in to a tame cat union by having labourers’ influence curbed by a labour aristocracy from the trades groups within the union. The opposite has occurred over the 30 years with all building and construction workers irrespective of their job, trades or non-trades, uniting to defend their rights and working conditions.
No more clearly was this shown than in the extraordinary level of support for Ark Tribe (above) who was facing gaol as a result of the ABCC.
Mao used to say that the imperialists make trouble, fail, make trouble and fail again.
The same can be said for the imperialist controlled building and construction industry employers and their lackeys in parliament.
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