Mick Bull, Melbourne
The Victorian branch of the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has broken through in its quest to get a new industry-wide pattern enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA).
On June 17, four major construction companies signed a new EBA with the CFMEU, contrary to advice from the Master Builders Association (MBA). Hundreds of smaller builders and sub-contractors then followed suit. The Master Painters Association also signed off, and so far at least 1000 individual companies have signed the EBA.
The avalanche of building employers signing up to the EBA has now prompted the MBA to ask for discussions with the union.
The Victorian CFMEU launched the EBA campaign months ahead of the expiry of the old EBA in an attempt to have most of the industry covered before the PM John Howard's Coalition government take control of the Senate on July 1.
The Howard government has warned construction companies that they would not be eligible for lucrative federal contracts if they sign up for the EBA with the union. However, a majority of builders have taken the decision to negotiate with the union in order to keep the industry peaceful and profitable.
The new EBA will expire after the next federal election, in 2007.
As further evidence of Howard's anti-union agenda, on June 22, the Building Industry Taskforce formally received the extra powers it was granted in a special sitting of parliament last year as a result of a deal between the government and the Australian Democrats.
The new powers will make it illegal for union members and employers not to answer questions asked by the taskforce. Anyone in the building industry refusing to answer questions can face fines up to $3300 for the first offence, and six-months imprisonment for the second offence.
As was explained by CFMEU state secretary Martin Kingham, building workers are the only people in this society who do not have the right to silence. "Rapists, murderers and child molesters all have the right to silence in this society, but building workers don't", Kingham told Green Left Weekly. "I can understand Howard and his anti-worker cronies passing such laws but why the Democrats have supported these draconian laws is beyond me."
When asked why building workers have been singled out, Kingham replied: "More than two years of a royal commission, three years of a taskforce and over $100 million of tax payers' money have produced almost no results for the Howard government's anti-union agenda. They found no corruption in the industry...
"And now they are solely concentrating on union breaches of the Workplace Relations Act and gearing up to sue the union when [the taskforce] gets even more increased powers once Howard gains control over the Senate."
Gaining evidence of the CFMEU breaking the WRA is the key reason for the introduction of the no-right-to-silence laws. As Kingham explained: "For our organisers and shop stewards to maintain workers' wages, conditions and health and safety it is impossible not to break the WRA. The WRA calls for secret ballots and 24 hours' notice before the union can do anything on site. If we obeyed those rules there would be a fatal accident every week and in a very transient industry, unscrupulous bosses would move their work force from site to site in an attempt to avoid the union giving the 24-hour notice.
"Because most in the industry understand that the taskforce is a political creation attempting to create disruption in the industry, employers and workers are unwilling to deal with the taskforce. Therefore, Howard is trying to force people to talk to them."
The union movement in Victoria has struck a deal with Premier Steve Bracks' Labor government on right of entry to workplaces. Under new occupational health and safety legislation union organisers will be able to inspect workplaces that are suspected of breaching OH&S regulations. Kingham said: "This is necessary legislation that will be used on those few employers who create unsafe work sites and refuse the expert advice that union representatives can give. If Howard's right of entry laws were allowed to go through unchecked, then these sites would have turned into death traps.
"When the Office of the Employment Advocate takes over from the Australian Industrial Relations Commission as the body to ratify EBAs, we will most likely see many EBAs knocked back for not meeting the federal government's award-stripping criteria. Therefore unions will have to fight on the job if they are to maintain workers' wages and conditions... Unfortunately unorganised workers will just be left to the wolves.
"The ACTU's strategy of running ads to raise the community's awareness over the attacks is good but it is not enough. A campaign to defeat Howard must consist of rallies and other forms of public actions, public education and, of course, industrial action. Through these methods the unions and the community will band together to bring him down."
From Green Left Weekly, June 29, 2005.
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