The “Defend the Unions – Defend the CFMEU” group was launched on August 29, with around 150 people, including rank-and-file members of the Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) and shop stewards filling the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) hall.
Also attending were members of the Australian Rail Tram and Bus Union, Maritime Union of Australia, Electrical Trades Union as well as left activists and rank and file members from other unions.
They discussed the federal government’s takeover, via an administrator, of the union and worked out a plan, noting that it could be a long fight.
Banners demanding the union-busting law be repealed and elected CFMEU officials be reinstated adorned the room. Others declared “Defend the unions — defend the CFMEU”.
Several speakers stressed the attack on the CFMEU were attacks on civil society and a breach of International Labour Organisation conventions.
Others said government interference in unions prevents the CFMEU’s members the right to determine own affairs and procedural fairness. Workers must have a right to select their leaders and they the right to strike, another said.
Former CFMEU national secretary Christy Cain addressed the meeting and asked people to imagine the industrial landscape if the CFMEU did not exist.
Labor’s new law is designed to replace a militant union with a weak one, another said. It is about taking control of a strong union, its assets and finances, and its ability to fight for their members.
Others said that they had never seen any government, let alone a Labor one, pass such laws. It is framed in a way that it can be used against any union.
Another said it is not about bikies, or ex cons, adding where else can an ex-convict get a job or a second chance?
Another said that Labor didn’t want to totally destroy the CFMEU but more wanted to turn it into a tame cat union with tame cat officials that would not stand up to bosses.
Two hundred and eighty officials, who are not alleged to have committed any crime, have lost their positions. CFMEU officials have no right to access unfair dismissal laws, which means every court case that may ensue is being paid with union members’ funds.
A “trial by media” had set the context for a bill that went through parliament so quickly it showed that this attack had been planned for some time.
Some unions are launching a legal challenge but, as some participants said, we can’t only rely on the legal route. Rather, a big public campaign to defend the CFMEU in the community and in other unions is needed as well as supporting any CFMEU members who do take industrial action.
A worker from the Metro Tunnel site said that already MC Labour Hire had reneged on passing on the pay rise won by the CFMEU in recent enterprise bargaining negotiations.
Six motions were passed including: demanding the repeal of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Bill 2024 and all anti-union laws; that the administrators be removed from all CFMEU office; and that the sacked CFMEU officials be immediately reinstated.
Someone said many workers feel uncertain about what the new law will mean for them and their union, pointing to the need for an education campaign as well as events and activities.
Others noted that we stopped repressive laws once and we can do it again, pointing to the MUA’s battle against the Patrick Corporation in 1998 when the Coalition wanted to de-unionise the wharves and “improve efficiency” by cutting the number of workers. The Patrick Corporation ended up locking out workers and sacking it whole workforce. The MUA did not give up and, with the help of a community campaign, it won.
[Defend the Unions – Defend the CFMEU will meet every second Wednesday of the month at the MUA offices in West Melbourne. Unionists as well as community members are welcome to the next meeting on September 11.]