Yahoo Finance Aussie tradies set to down tools today in major strike: 'Attack on us'
They're protesting the federal government's decision to put the CFMEU into administration.
Tens of thousands of tradies across Australia are set to put down their tools and walk off the job today. The main strike action is planned in Melbourne, with workers striking in solidarity with the CFMEU, but there will also be marches in Sydney, Perth, Canberra, Adelaide, Cairns and Brisbane.
Outrage has erupted in the construction industry following the federal government's move to put the CFMEU into administration. But tradies involved in today's marches have been warned by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
“Please be aware that if an employee fails to attend the workplace or stops work without authorisation from their employer, this conduct may be unprotected industrial action in contravention of the FW Act," a spokesperson for the Ombudsman said.
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"Any person ‘knowingly involved’ in a contravention of the FW Act is also taken to have contravened that provision.
“Where an employee has engaged in unprotected industrial action, the employer is required under the FW Act to deduct a minimum of four hours wages from the employee, even if the industrial action was less than four hours.”
But bosses have also been warned they can't penalise a worker if they use annual leave to attend the protest.
Members from the Building Industry Group of Unions (BIG), including members of the CFMEU, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union and the Electrical Trades Union will reportedly be involved in the action at the State Library in Melbourne at 11am.
Some in the construction industry saw the government's move to put the CFMEU into administration as an overreach.
"Attack on one is an attack on all. We will not stand for what the federal government has done," the Victorian Plumbers' Union said on social media.
Why was the CFMEU put into administration?
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus revealed on Friday that it was “in the public interest” to put the CFMEU into administration following allegations of endemic corruption and links to criminal gangs in its construction arm.
The move saw 270 elected union officials lose their unpaid positions.
Eleven senior union officials across NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland branches also lost their jobs.
Former CFMEU Victorian state secretary John Setka, who was alleged to have allowed bikies and members of organised crime to act as union delegates, declined to comment on the news.
He has previously denied the allegations against him.
Friday’s move comes after Labor and the Coalition came to a bipartisan agreement to pass the legislation necessary to place the union into administration.
It passed the Senate on Monday with 39 yes and 10 no votes after the government conceded to the Coalition’s demands to increase the minimum administration term to three years, plus conditions for the administrator to report to parliament every six months and attend senate estimates.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers understands the "blowback" as a result of the officials losing their positions, but insisted that putting the CFMEU into administration was necessary.
"We want these protests to be peaceful today, but they’re not surprising when you take on the leaders of a union with the sorts of behaviour that has been alleged in recent times," he told ABC Radio.
“Our goal here is to clean up the CFMEU, to get it back to representing its members and workers in a really important part of our economy. Of course, there’ll be blowback as we go about that.”
Protest could have major impacts on projects
Master Builders Victoria chief executive Michaela Lihou called on tradies to organise strike actions outside their normal work hours.
“Disappointingly, the rally will lead to disruptions and lost productivity on various construction sites," Lihou said.
"And, at a time when we have work programs under pressure and at risk of being behind schedule and over budget, the timing could not be worse.
"We’ve communicated with our membership that employees who down tools to attend the rally may be taking unprotected industrial action. Unless they are authorised, employers will need to withhold pay for workers that attend in accordance with industrial laws.”
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt reportedly acknowledged the right to protest but said the construction division of the CFMEU has gone into administration regardless of any industrial action.
“Construction work is hard, dangerous work, and construction workers deserve a union that is strong and effective but also is clean,” Senator Watt told the Herald Sun.
“I think that is in the interest of construction workers and the union movement more generally.”
- with NCA Newswire
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