Courts uphold government attack on militant union

 Written by: (Contributed by a CFMEU member in South Australia) on 20 June 2025

 

Well, the government’s courts have made their call, fully backing Albo’s plan to take away the power of a militant union, the CFMEU.

This affects all states, including the SA branch.

This gives the puppets, the Administration, the go-ahead to further crush the strength of this militant union which includes the possible further sackings of organisers and staff that stand up for the workers, both members and non-members.

The bosses and their government learnt the mistakes in crushing the militant BLF.  

This round has a lot more thought and laws.

The developers and building bosses are rubbing their hands. Already, they will be rewriting their future Enterprise Agreements.  SA workers will be included in this, not just those interstate. 

It’s here now.  The Administration direction of non-attendance by the CFMEU at the May Day celebrations, the state governments joining in with cancelling the CFMEU’s position on industry boards.

Look at the tower cranes around the State.  Where are the Eureka/union flags?  Why are they not on the new and in particular, bigger, jobs (a visual weakening of the union).  We have flown them here in this State since the deregulation of the BLF.

The conditions and benefits in all areas of this industry – safety, financial, working conditions affecting members and their families – are there because of our unions. Over 80% of these mentioned areas are there from our unions being STRONG AND MILTANT AND UNDERSTANDING THE INDUSTRY.

Not because of laws, deals and government/employer rules.

The Administration must go.

Construction workers must control and run their union.  The members must select and vote who their leaders are.

The strongest tool you have in this fight is the worker working alongside of you and your union.

SOLIDARITY IS STRENGTH
DARE TO STRUGGLE
DARE TO WIN

Media and CFMEU Administrators threaten rank and file fightback

Written by: Louisa L. on 14 November 2024

 

Multi-sided attacks against NSW CFMEU members increased in the lead-up to a strike and rally organised by rank and file workers on Tuesday 12 November. Yet thousands of fired-up ETU, CFMEU and Plumbers Union members still lit up Sydney streets with their demands.

The Australian Financial Review (AFR) labelled NSW “Australia’s most lawless” branch. In two editions it targeted a leading delegate of 30 years standing. The failed and now disbanded Construction Commission (ABCC) also systematically targeted him for “illegally” refusing to speak to its inspectors. It once charged him for refusing to take down a crane’s Eureka Flag. It also threatened construction company managers for not taking action against him. 

AFR intimated he was a thug and criminal. Yet his father, who became honorary President of the NSW Builders Federation as a rank and file worker, fought in the lead against gangster control of the union, alongside Jack Mundey and Norm Gallagher. Like father, like son, both incorruptible, both putting the needs of construction workers before their own.

Invitation to sack workers

The two NSW Administrators also got in on the act. First, they instructed organisers not to support the strike. 

Next, they texted all members demanding a law designed to cripple or completely destroy unions (its giant legal bills paid with CFMEU members’ money) “must be decided in court”. 

Warning members not to attend, they pretended concern, “We do not want to see any member …  put at risk of losing their job.” But it’s also a disguised threat to construction companies and subbies to keep their workers under control, in attacks that benefit billionaire developers and their trillionaire financiers. 

Administrators then directly extended the invitation to employers to sack workers, telling them any sacked worker would not be assisted by the Administrator-controlled, so-called union. Giant developer Lendlease immediately threatened any worker who walked out with the sack. 

A parade of nominee companies make up Lendlease’s Top 20 security holders. Nominee companies invest on behalf of multiple different corporations and individuals. They are mostly run by foreign banks and finance companies, some with Australian offices. Investors use nominees to hide their identities. 
Lendlease’s 2023 Annual Report also revealed the five biggest “substantial security holders” within these hidden holdings. Number one is Aware Super, holding 8.56%. 

But most importantly the second, third and fourth biggest are three closely linked US finance corporations – State Street Corporation, BlackRock Group and the Vanguard Group, who control 19.19% of Lendlease. As a bloc, it gives them great power to make decisions. 

Defend workers and challenge Administrators

Many workers and even delegates were cowed by intimidation and deliberate misinformation. At knock off time the day before, the Administrators, calling themselves “NSW CFMEU”, sent every member a text saying there was “no CFMEU rally” the next day.

In the wash up, Australian Financial Review again attacked the most prominent rank and file leader, after he called for members to prepare each other for massive industrial action if the High Court challenge to ALP-Coalition legal threats and thuggery against workers failed. It also deliberately named his employer company, to pressure its managers.

Rank and file delegates are leading this critically important fightback. United, they have the collective experience to defend each other and challenge the Administrators’ attempts to divide and conquer. 

Community outreach by support organisations is informing the general public of truth of this dangerous legislation, which looks and smells exactly like the Nazi Labour Front of the 1930s. There’s clear untapped interest and support among the general public, and plenty to be done.

 

Dare to struggle, dare to win against Administrator: CFMEU Sydney Rally

Written by: Tovaris on 13 November 2024

 

More than 2000 construction workers courageously defied the fascistic administrator to march in Sydney on 12 November. This was despite a desperate letter sent from CFMEU NSW administrators and class traitors Chris Christodoulou and Philip Pasfield urging members not to join the rally, which was followed up by a pathetic text message sent to all members stating that there was no rally on 12 November.

The rally was strongly supported from the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), the Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU), the Meat Industry Union (AMIEU) and the Plumbers Union (PPTEU). Despite the lower numbers of this rally compared with the last few CFMEU rallies in Sydney, the tone and mood was significantly more militant.
CFMEU representative Denis McNamara clearly and correctly called for support from the rest of the Australian working class: “If all workers are beside us, we will never be defeated!” This statement was met by thunderous applause from workers in attendance. McNamara also addressed members on the need to strike indefinitely if the sacked union leaders of the CFMEU lost their High Court challenge to the fascistic administration. 
 

Allan Hicks from the ETU spoke of the scourge of the Masters Builders Association who teamed up with CFMEU administrators and visited NSW job sites in the lead-up to the rally to convince union members not to come to the rally. Hicks stated that threatening imprisonment of unionists who defy the administrator would not deter workers from fighting for their rights.

 
Loukas Kakogiannis from RAFFWU told of the traitorous nature of the ALP and ACTU in not supporting retail workers against rampant wage theft from corporate giants Coles and Woolworths. Kakogiannis had a great reception from workers when he stated “At RAFFWU, we know what side we are on!”

Meat Workers Union representative Jacqui read out a statement denouncing the sacking of the 270 officials of the CFMEU without trial and spoke of how the legislation used against the CFMEU will certainly be used as a blueprint to attack other unions, especially with a Federal election looming in the near future.

Chris Seet from the Plumbers Union spoke out on the need to stick together with the CFMEU “who are courageous and standing for their rights and dignity”. Seet pledged support from the Plumbers union all the way in CFMEU members combating the fascistic administrator imposed upon them. 

Elected NSW CFMEU Secretary Darren Greenfield, who was removed by the fascistic administrator from his elected position, spoke of his immense pride in the courageous actions of CFMEU members acting against the administrator. Greenfield correctly spoke of the utmost need to get the CFMEU back in control by union members and gave a warning about the fascistic administrator organising “ALP hacks on a union ticket to run the CFMEU that suits their aims”. 

Placards from the ‘Democracy on Trial’ campaign group were proudly held overhead by CFMEU members, with the message ‘Our right to innocence until proven guilty in under threat’ – referring to how the capitalist class can remove the so-called rights of people at any time. 

Importantly, rail workers, nurses and teachers have met to plan to fight back against the cost of living crisis imposed by the capitalists against the Australian people. Only when all Australian workers politically run the country will we see a system where workers’ labour provides healthcare, education, transport and housing for all people as a guaranteed right. The struggle of CFMEU members against the fascistic administrator is proving a great training site and ultimately instructive for all workers to unite against the capitalist ruling class. 

 

Meat…the worker!

 Written by: (Contributed) on 14 October 2024

 

Above: Meatworkers' union at Brisbane Labor Day rally

The following statement from a meat worker was posted to the reddit internet platform. We are reposting it because it is a powerful statement about the class structure of capitalist Australia. The general resides in the particular: this one workers’ awakening is true of many workers whose next step is to find and join the revolutionary party of the working class – eds.

When I started to read about socialism a lot of things started making sense. 

I work in a meat factory, and I've experienced first hand how the capitalist system is unbalanced. We do 12-14 hour days, and our bodies are wrecked. 
I work primarily in small goods production, and my back is already at a point where I can feel it deteriorating as is my right shoulder, from all the heavy lifting of 20 - 30kg tubs of meat, and I'm only 31. 

The older, experienced butchers though… man, their hands are completely mangled. All have carpel tunnel syndrome. All need to have buckets of hot water on standby to dunk their hands in just to numb the pain of their repetitive work. We are, quite literally, wrecking our bodies to earn a pittance to just live in society and get by. 

Meanwhile, the bosses are millionaires with giant houses, expensive cars and $700 pairs of RM Williams'. 

Then I factor in that I am one of the luckier ones with a stable and full-time job, and that many are struggling in worse financial situations than myself. 

Working here these last few years is what has slowly built my interest in socialism. I was completely apolitical before, but now I have experienced first hand how flawed capitalism is, and how unsustainable it is, and socialism seems to be the answer to me. 

Exactly what kind of socialism, I am not sure yet. 

 

 

Defending the CFMEU in SA

 Written by: (Contributed) on 7 October 2024

 

Currently the Albo government and the Liberals (with the support of the ACTU) are rolling over to the employers and attempting to totally crush militant workers organisation, in this case the CFMEU. Through parliament they passed a bill giving extraordinary powers to stamping out strong worker organisations (CFMEU), workers’ right and conditions.

With one TV show and a total anti-worker media the puppets have stood up in Federal parliament to attack the whole membership of the CFMEU. All this with the support of the bump me into parliament ACTU and a few other weak union officials. All under the guise of getting rid of John Setka and a few bikies. No, this is a planned task to rid workers of their power to organise, particularly with strength in a strong union.

Here in South Australia there was a belief we should be ok. WRONG. Our Premiere Peter Mali acted early, called on the police to get in and investigate find the bikies and corruption and bullying. This was done, a report was given to government. It wasn’t tabled wasn’t told to members of the CFMEU or the media. Why not? Probably because the report said there was no evidence of corruption, bikies or bullying. It came out after the report was leaked.

Doesn’t end there. The premier has asked for the administrators to also include the state arm of the union, the Australian Building and Construction Workers Federation (ABCWF), this is after the police report. Even more the same man and government has sacked the representative of the CFMEU off the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) along with the CEPU (although it is still on board). Together they represent the bulk of workers in the industry.

In SA we are affected like the other states. We have had sackings with life time employment bans including our secretary Marcus Pare sacked by the administrator Mark Irving, supported by the appointed state administrator. Here according to the police report these people are not guilty or accused of any wrong doing. Neither administrator has any onsite experience of construction.

While some weaker unions have gone silent along with some members of the ALP others haven’t. The CEPU have held joint meetings with the CFMEU and joint plans are in progress on how to oppose this bill and work towards looking after and improving the working conditions of all SA members. Members are urged to stay financial and to encourage work mates to join.

EBA’s and site visits will still happen but without strong elected leadership the daily struggle will be harder. Bosses have already started to push back on EBAs and their entitlements.

The CFMEU membership have used the call “IF UNDER ATTACK FIGHT BACK!”

It’s now time to put these words into action

When a Labor government attacked and deregistered the BLF in the 80’s the union may have gone but the spirit and fight didn't. Many of those members and ideas formed part of the CFMEU.

Long live the spirit of Eureka!

DARE TO STRUGGLE!
DARE TO WIN!

A union member since the 1960’s

"When we stand together as the working class, our victory is assured” — ‘Line in the Sand’ rally, Melbourne, 18 September.

 Written by: Ashley C. and Tony A. on 21 September 2024

 

More than just an option, defiance is our duty: we truly have a world to win.   Construction Unions Dare Workers to Struggle 

On Wednesday, over 50,000 construction union members walked off their worksites and onto the streets of the Melbourne CBD to mark the beginning of the ‘Line in the Sand’ fighting campaign led by the CFMEU, ETU, PPTEU and AMWU. 

The ‘Line in the Sand’ fightback will last for the five-year period of the CFMEU’s administration and will form a concerted action by unions to ensure that the conditions of workers are not torn away from them during this latest attack against organised labour by capital. 

The decision to hold the Wednesday rally was voted up by 700 delegates at the Building Industry Group’s joint construction union delegates’ meeting last week, along with the Target 1000 campaign to sign Victorian construction workers onto 1000 EBAs (enterprise bargaining agreements) across the state.

The sunny September morning in Melbourne saw workers and community supporters congregate before the columns of the Victorian Trades Hall, where powerful speeches were delivered by union officials and members pledging united and protracted struggle to defend the CFMEU and all unions. 

“How good is this? Tens of thousands of construction workers hitting the streets yet again” said Zach Smith, National Secretary of the CFMEU's Construction and General Division, “This is why this union and building workers in this state and across Australia will never be defeated, because tens of thousands of workers have walked off the job today and are standing here for their rights and conditions.” 

Troy Gray, State Secretary of the ETU Victoria Branch, told the rally that the CFMEU’s administration would not be the main focus of the rally, and instead the rally is demonstrating the unified industrial power of workers in the construction industry. “By turning up in big numbers today you are putting all the politicians on notice. We’ve had enough. We’ve drawn a line in the sand,” said Gray. Pointing to the precarious and dangerous nature of work within the construction industry, Gray outlined the importance of fighting for EBAs, particularly as opportunistic employers have sought to erode wages and conditions amid the CFMEU’s forced takeover by the government. 

Mass mobilisation sweeps aside anti-worker laws

Speakers at the rally sent a strong message to bosses and the government that workers and their unions will not be intimidated by the anti-worker laws, and will continue to take illegal industrial action. “If there is a continued attack on the working conditions and living standards of Victorian construction workers for the building industry group of unions, we will call a third rally, and that third rally will be on a Wednesday, and there’ll be a call for a 72-hour stoppage.”

A proud CFMEU member bravely gave her first public speech to her comrades, highlighting the importance of workers safety and conditions, and the importance of the union to the advancement of non-male construction workers. She led the chant “Line in the sand! United we stand!”

Tens of thousands of workers proudly marched under the flags of their unions and of the Eureka southern cross towards Flagstaff Gardens, completely filling across 5 blocks along LaTrobe street from Victoria street to the Gardens. The mass rally was led by an enormous banner CFMEU HERE TO STAY. 

The 50,000 eventually gathered directly across the road from the Federal Court building, where less than a month ago the CFMEU had been mounting its case against Fair Work’s appointment of an administrator before the ALP overrode the proceedings and changed the law with the ACTU’s blessing. The ACTU building itself stands within earshot of the Gardens, and if Sally McManus had just stepped outside, she would have heard the cries of ‘Union Power!’ reverberating through the streets. 

Line in the Sand

The solidarity of mass rallies defying unjust laws will give more confidence to workers in the great power of organized working class standing up and fighting back, as the campaign builds further momentum. The Line in the Sand campaign is inspiring struggle carried in Zach Smith’s message to all workers:

“It’s the message that today’s rally will echo far beyond the construction workers that are here, it will echo through the halls of parliament and across the boardroom tables of corporate Australia. 

“Today we’re drawing a line in the sand. That’s what we’re doing today. As working people, when we stand together as the working class, our victory is assured if we stand together and fight together, and today we will be sending a very clear message across those corporate boardrooms, across the halls of parliament, that we’re drawing a line in the sand. 

“So what does that mean? It means that we’re not going to let any employer use administration to take wages and conditions backwards. We’re not gonna let any business use this situation to take our hard won safety rights backwards and put workers at risk. The line in the sand also means that politicians, that parliaments, will not take our conditions backwards either, or introduce draconian anti-worker laws. The line in the sand means that you won’t touch our delegates, our shop stewards, and our HSRs who are the backbone of representation on site and are the backbone of our union. That’s what the line in the sand is all about. 

“We’re not going to take a backwards step! We’re not going to let administration mean that any worker goes backwards, loses hard-won wages and conditions. 170 years of struggle, and there’ll be 170 years more because we will stand together, we will come out of this period and we’ll be stronger than ever!”

Fight for an Independent Working Class Agenda

Let this be an example to all workers that it is possible to take back our unions, and clear the way for a truly independent working class agenda. 
It is certainly a welcome and impressive act of defiance. The relative lack of commentary from senior ALP members on the developments emerging since their brazen takeover of the union suggests that they were certainly caught off guard.

It was in the lead up to the 2022 election, Anthony Albanese appealed to the audience of the Australian Financial Review business summit: "If Labor is successful in the coming federal election, I will take my lead from Bob Hawke and his successor Paul Keating". Indeed, first as tragedy, then as farce. Continuing to showcase the extent of his disengagement from the increasingly precarious conditions faced by workers in Australia, it certainly appears that the possibility of stoking the wrath of 140,000 construction workers across the country was, if considered at all, an afterthought. 

He certainly embodies the smugness and arrogance of the very class he serves, as it has become increasingly obvious that his confidence and cocksureness in executing such a brazen declaration of class warfare stemmed purely from the magnates of finance and business to whom he addressed his electoral appeal. Of course, he knew the move would rustle a few feathers, maybe cost him a few votes, but to him and his ilk it would seem the working class represent little more than passive subjects, who will sit down and take whatever is thrown at them. It is increasingly difficult to imagine that he seriously considered the possibility of the situation unfolding as it has. 

 

All power to construction workers : CFMEU Sydney Rally

 Written by: Tovaris on 20 September 2024

worker 

Around 7000 construction workers walked off the job in Sydney to rally against the ongoing fascistic 'administration' of their union. 

At the previous rally, CFMEU representative Dennis McNamara stated in his speech: "This is the spark that the working class needs to light fires everywhere!" This view has gripped the masses of the CFMEU members - many spoke of the need to forge the broadest possible alliances with other unions, members of the public and other progressive organisations.

So far the Electrical Trades Union NSW Branch (ETU) has provided the most support on the ground - while officials, delegates and members of the Maritime Union of Australia Sydney Branch (MUA), Plumbers and Pipes Trade union (PPTEU) and Australian Manufacturers Workers Union NSW Branch (AMWU) were also in attendance and gave speeches in support. 

Multiple CFMEU members spoke of the need to welcome struggle - especially when wages and conditions are attacked. CFMEU members are aware that the attack on the CFMEU is a ruling class reaction to their successful EBA campaign rather than accusations of corruption which is the narrative the traitor capitalist media is going for. 

Cries of 'Reinstate Darren Greenfield', 'Reinstate Rita Mallia', reinstate 'Michael Greenfield' and 'Our Union, Our Choice' were generally well received on the ground. 

We applaud the CFMEU leadership-in-exile for their exemplary focus on militant trade unionism protecting and serving their members. We also applaud the growing understanding within the CFMEU membership that only when workers run the country that they built will they see an end to the parasitic politicians attacking their union, livelihoods and wages and conditions. 

Only when construction and all other workers who built this country run the country will they see a system where workers' labour provides healthcare, education, transport and housing for all people. At the moment in the capitalist system, CFMEU members are unwillingly paying an unelected bereaucrat 'adminstrator' over $500 000 a year to destroy their union for the 'crime' of being a successful and militant union. 

We call on all power to us, your construction comrades and the broadest possible support to us and back to all workers with the understanding that we are all struggling against the ruling class who are waging a campaign against the wages and conditions of every worker in Australia. "

Support grows for CFMEU

 Written by: Nick G. on 13 September 2024

 

The SA Branch Executive of the Communications, Electricity and Plumbing Union (CEPU) voted on Wednesday night to disaffiliate from the SA Branch of the ALP.

The vote came as a tragic accident on a Queensland building site confirmed the dangerous nature of the industry and the consequent need for a union prepared to defy restrictions on right of entry.

And a newsletter from Left faction unions and members of the SA ALP said of the CFMEU being placed under Administration that “The object of this exercise is not to punish the guilty. It is to shut down a militant trade union which the Government (and its friends in the construction industry) find an inconvenience. If there were actual, evidence-based, allegations of criminality in the industry, then surely there are enough laws to bring charges and court cases to deal with them. That’s how the law is meant to work – rather than accusation and trial by media, followed by Government decree.”

The newsletter concluded that “if the Party leadership is going to start attacking unions that it doesn’t like or that get in its way, socialists in the Labor Party might have to consider whether they would be better off in a Party that actually defends working class interests.”

John Adley, SA Branch Secretary of the CEPU said in a message to members: “The damaging impacts of this legislation on workers will be felt wider than just the construction industry. The legislation is a ‘how to guide’ for any future government to destroy any trade union.”

Meanwhile, in Queensland, a worker was seriously injured on the taxpayer-funded Centenary Bridge Upgrade project after head contractor BMD repeatedly restricted union officials from accessing the worksite.

On Tuesday afternoon the worker was impaled in the neck after falling over a trip hazard and landing in a sheet of mesh.

CFMEU officials were onsite to investigate on Wednesday morning, ending several months of having their access to the site restricted by BMD.

Of the several thousand alleged acts of illegality by CFMEU officials raised by the capitalist media, the vast majority arise from CFMEU organisers courageously defying the restrictions on their right of entry to building sites precisely for the purpose of servicing the needs of members, with health and safety in the dangerous industry first among their concerns.

Rank and file members of the CFMEU are organising to defend their union.

These are early days in what will be a long struggle.

The ruling class and its anti-worker government have done their homework this time, and we are in for a protracted and drawn out struggle.

Sacking of CFMEU rank and file reps a wake-up call for all workers

Written by: Ned K. on 28 August 2024

 

(Above: CFMEU members take to the streets in Melbourne)

The new industrial laws enabling the CFMEU to be put in control of an Administrator are a wake-up call for all Unions and all workers.

On the first day of his new job, the Administrator sacked over 200 elected construction worker union representatives, most of whom are workers, not Union Officials.

A few weeks earlier, industrial Awards and the Fair Work Act included Delegate Rights to be inserted in Awards and to apply as a minimum standard in enterprise agreements.

The Delegate Rights were hailed by the federal government as evidence of its support for democracy for workers in their workplaces. They now had the right to elect their workplace Union representative. Many workers support the new Delegate Rights as a step towards organizing in their workplace and across whole industries and sectors of the economy.

Many must now be thinking the new Delegate Rights will be at risk, along with their whole Union, if the employers and their governments think workers' leadership on the job and collective strength is getting too powerful.

Workers are getting the government's message loud and clear - "You can have your Union, but we and the employers hold the upper hand. We can appoint an Administrator and prevent all your active workplace Delegates from being on committees of management or councils of the Union ".

It is true that bosses have always tried to terminate workers' leaders in workplaces who are effective and who cannot be "bought off" or moved out of harm's way to some isolated position in the workplace. However, the new industrial laws aimed initially at construction workers take the armoury of laws and measures aimed at diluting or destroying the collective bourgeois legal rights to another level.

The new laws are showing workers the limitations of official Union organizational structures, even at the workplace level where workers elect their own Delegates. The current situation for CFMEU members is that while they may still have a Delegate in their workplace, the official organization of the Union across worksites and the whole country is now dismantled. 

The rallies held by CFMEU members and supporters on Tuesday 27 August in capital cities showed that construction workers are determined to remain united as CFMEU members. They will find appropriate ways to organize to protect pay and conditions.

 

CFMEU members defy threats to defend their union

Written by: Nick G. and others on 27 August 2024

 

Many tens of thousands of construction workers around Australia walked off the job to attend rallies called to fight the attack on their union, the CFMEU. They did so in defiance of Labor Prime Minister Albanese and his Ministers, who had threatened workers with a range of penalties for taking “unprotected” industrial action. 

Albanese showed his true colours by paraphrasing the notorious anti-worker Maggie Thatcher, saying “This government is not for turning”.  Even before he had made his remark, workers were making placards reading “Thatcher would be proud”.

 

In Brisbane, at least 10,000 building workers and others filled out the Queens Gardens and surrounding streets. There were speakers from CFMEU leadership, CFMEU "youth crew", ETU and others.  It was a very militant atmosphere, according to comrades who sent a report to us. Workers also walked off the job in Cairns.

 

In Adelaide, probably 1,000 people rallied at Parliament House steps. The important thing though was that CFMEU members on all CBD sites walked off and marched to the steps of Parliament House. The mood was one of anger, but determination to stay strong together. Speakers included CFMEU reps, John Adley the ETU Secretary, an MUA rep and Jamie Newlyn, Assistant National Secretary of the MUA. Connie Bonaros, a member of the State’s Upper House, pledged her support for the union and its members.  

 

(Adelaide: workers show politicians the true face of democracy)

 

There were Organizers there from AMWU and UWU and several industrial lawyers, but many unions had no official executive officer presence at the rally. SA Unions was not present,

 

They followed the ACTU Executive resolution, moved by the right-wing Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union (SDA), which supports the appointment of the Administrator by the Government via the Fair Work Commission.

 

These unions are tied to the ALP being in government in Canberra so more concerned about keeping the money flowing to the ALP election campaign than the attack on the working class and all unions.

 

Melbourne rally

 

In Melbourne, between 50,000 and 60,000 construction workers and other building industry unionists (ETU, AMWU, Plumbers) downed tools and walked off their jobs to take unprotected illegal action to defend the CFMEU and all unions. It was the biggest and most militant mobilization of workers since the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) waterfront dispute in 1998 and the 2007 Your Rights at Work Worth Fighting For.

 

Once again, a vicious pre-planned attack by the bosses, supported by their Labor government and their courts conspired to cripple and destroy a militant union. The Labor Party parliamentarians and their mates in the ACTU colluded with the big end of town in slandering and vilifying decent hard-working construction workers and their elected union delegates.

 

Congratulations Albo and the Labor government! You have re-injected class politics and struggle into the union movement and brought about the biggest national mobilisation of the working class this century! At a time when cost of living pressure bites, housing becomes unaffordable, there are shortages in hospitals, schools, and social services are cut to the bone, Albo and the government can find hundreds and billions of people’s taxes on US nuclear powered submarine and expand US military bases across Australia for the next US-led war. Why are we not surprised? The Labor Party is only there to mislead and divide the working class, keep workers passive, and sell us out to US imperialism and its corporate monopolies. The ALP is showing its true despicable colours in looking after big business.

 

As Mao would say "Lifting a rock only to drop it on one's own feet".

 

Workers are not mugs, not to be taken for granted. They know a scab act and how to deal with it. CFMEU workers know how to fight, they know what solidarity means. That’s how they protect and improve their wages and conditions in the face of greedy developers and shifty lawyers. 

 

Leading the march in Melbourne was a large and very vocal contingent of CFMEU Women, proudly waving their union flags. Along with many CFMEU flags were the flags of other unions and a few Eureka flags as well. The city was paralyzed, streets clogged with agitated workers, a sea of orange and yellow safety jackets. At the start and end of the march, powerful speeches by delegates, former officials, members of other friendly unions, from veteran BLF comrades, all were greeted with cheers and chanting: “CFMEU-here to stay!”

 

This is just the start, the opening salvo. 

 

• 60,000 workers marched from the Victorian Trades Hall to Fair Work Commission which one of the speakers called the “bosses courts”.

• A retired CFMEU official told the rally construction worker’ victories for wages and conditions, for union rights, have been won more often than not through illegal collective action of mobilized construction workers and their supporters.

• Speaker after speaker pledged to continue the fight to defend the CFMEU and all unions and received rousing approval.

 

There is Power in the mobilized and united working class. Dare to Struggle, Dare to WIN!

 

In Sydney, nearly than 10,000 applauded sacked CFMEU NSW state secretary Darren Greenfield when he attacked Australian Council of Trade Unions leader Sally McManus for selling the union out to the Labor Party.  

 

A Party leaflet distributed at the Adelaide rally described the government-appointed Administrator, Mark Irving, as a union lawyer turned union destroyer.

 

It said: “The ALP, which has always been a party of capitalism, has cleverly utilized people with ties to unions as its CFMEU “administrators”. It is helping to divide union responses to the attack on the CFMEU by covering them with a veneer of union complicity.

 

“Chief administrator, Mark Irving KC, worked for many unions. The union lawyer is now a union destroyer. He is joined in his attacks on the CFMEU by Grahame McCulloch as its Victorian administrator. He was once head of the union covering university academics.”

 

 

Further reports of rallies around the country may come in to us, and will be posted as they arrive. 

Attack on Construction Workers' Union Is All About Profits and Destroying Workers Collective Power

 Written by: Ned K. on 26 August 2024

 

On Friday 23 August CFMEU members experienced the first day of their Union being in the hands of federal government enabled Administrators. As soon as this happened two hundred elected Officials and Councillors of the CFMEU from all over Australia were terminated from their roles by the Administrator.

The day before, Thursday 22 August the big business finance capital mouthpiece Australian Financial Review had front page article with headlines, " Builders act to take on CFMEU".

The article was most informative. It reported that at least some major building companies that had Enterprise Agreements with the CFMEU intended to remove "CFMEU vetoes and other restrictions" which enabled the Union to have some degree of influence on which sub-contractors the primary building company engaged.

One of the builders named is the WeBuild Group who are the principal contractor on the largest infrastructure project in NSW, the Sydney Metro Western Airport line.

The article also quoted the Master Builders Association NSW Executive Director Brian Seidler saying,

"In the last two weeks, there's been a groundswell of contractors that have indicated they've been dissatisfied with their enterprise agreement, not so much with the rates but the imposition of having to consult the union before letting subcontracts on even though they've won the job".

Seidler went on, "This fundamentally gives the union the power of veto and to dictate who is on the job and eventually to control the job. We're already seeing a trend where the union is saying, “You must choose from a list of union EBA subcontractors."

Seidler said builders did not want to be bound to " use union-sanctioned labour."

Initially, construction workers on a large site may maintain their current pay and conditions to give the appearance that the bosses and federal government are not after the workers, just the elected Union reps, from job site Delegate to the Union executive level.

However, the rot is likely to set in earlier for construction workers employed by the subcontractors on a large site or project. Eventually with turnover of labour, the big builders hope to destroy the collective strength of the workers through employment of non-union labour.

Their strategy is bound to fail. The very nature of construction work and the contractors' quest for extracting more surplus value from workers to realise more profit will unite workers and move them to appropriate collective action to protect their own pay and conditions and importantly, health and safety on the job.

The other dilemma for the bosses is that while they dream of having a docile, hardworking workforce, the reality is that they need workers who know what they are doing and thousands of them are CFMEU members and likely to stand by each other no matter what.