More than 200 members of the Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) attended their first Victorian branch meeting on October 2 since Labor bought in a law allowing it to sack officials and place the union under administration.
Members from all sections of the union gathered at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation meeting rooms. The CFMEU branch meeting in July was so big not everyone could fit in — this one was of equal size.
Green Left understands that the members, including women and retired activists as well as shop stewards, current and former officials and many rank-and file-activists, pledged to fight for the union.
National CFMEU Secretary Zach Smith, in attendance, called on members to stick together and fight to keep the gains they had already won.
In earlier social media comments, Smith had talked about continuing to support the industrial campaigns that the Building Industry Group unions have been leading.
These are The Line in the Sand campaign to push back against the Labor’s draconian administration laws. The Target 1000 campaign aims to win 1000 enterprise agreements, under terms recently endorsed by the CFMEU and big builders before the union was placed under administration.
Rank-and-file CFMEU members pushed for the branch meeting to condemn Labor’s attacks, return former officials to their positions and to make the hated administrators more accountable for their actions, given they are spending union money.
They also wanted all the union’s regular membership meetings retained, as well as processes for defending delegates or shop stewards who are being attacked simply for fulfilling their duties.
Meanwhile, several union bodies have passed solidarity motions with the CFMEU, including the National Tertiary Education Union NSW Division Council, which called on its national executive to oppose the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Act 2024 and advocate publicly for respecting union democracy and due process “with respect to allegations of corruption and criminality within the CFMEU, including at ACTU [Australian Council of Trade Unions]”.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives Association NSW Royal Prince Alfred Hospital branch also passed a motion encouraging its members to attend demonstrations and strikes organised by the CFMEU.
The CEPU Electrical Energy and Services Division SA State Council decided on September 11 to break its affiliation to SA Labor, saying it is “untenable for our union to continue to support a party of State and Federal Governments that have demonstrated by their actions that they do not believe that construction industry workers are entitled to the same industrial and legal rights as other Australian citizens”.
An open letter from Australian Services Union members of state affiliated unions calls on its National Executive to actively oppose the “unprecedented draconian regime of administration over the CFMEU”, and to publicly campaign for the ACTU to “immediately lift its suspension of the CFMEU”.
Rita Mallia, the former president of the NSW branch of the CFMEU, who was sacked from her position, told journalist Matt Peacock on October 3 that she is “angry”. “I don’t think they understand what they’ve done to try and damage this union. Or maybe they intended to damage the union … we’re a very strong union.
“We don’t take a step backwards. We don’t kowtow to politicians. We don’t have an eye on the next state seat in parliament.
“We’re an organisation that is absolutely committed to using a militant approach to industrial relations.
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“We’re a strong union in a tough industry … I don’t think they like unions that … do not kowtow to the powers that be.”
Asked whether anyone in the ACTU had contacted her when the allegations against the union were first aired, she said no.
“We were just basically thrown under a bus … you certainly learn who your friends are when something like this happens.”
Mallia said the ACTU “has joined the bandwagon against the CFMEU” and “set a terrible precedent”.
The legislation passed by Labor and the Coalition is “an overreach”, she said.
“It’s a unilateral executive act to remove the leadership and put into administration an organisation based on some random allegations in a TV program, none of which have been proven in court.
“It’s completely trampling on people’s rights to procedural fairness; the right to the presumption of innocence; the right to have allegations rested and proven. These are things that you would think in a democracy were fundamental.”
She said that “future political enemies” now have “the playbook” on “how to dismantle the trade union movement” and “any organisation that has the courage to raise it head above the parapet”.
If the union is unsuccessful in its High Court action, she said any organisation could be the subject the “unilateral wipe-out” by the government.
“It is unprecedented. I don’t think there has been anything like this since [Prime Minister Robert] Menzies tried to abolish the Communist Party and was unsuccessful in that in 1951.”
She today’s political parties “are very powerful” and are “obviously at the behest of very powerful vested interests, who have a lot of money to make if unions like the CFMEU did not exist”.