CFMEU Meeting in Melbourne.

PERTH: More than 1,000 CFMEU members, as well as delegates and officials from other unions, attended a show of unity and solidarity. The rally was chaired by CFMEU State Secretary Mick Buchan, who reminded everyone that his members built this city, that the union is grassroots-focused, cares about members’ pay and conditions and works hard to keep members safe at work.

Mark Murray, whose son was killed on a building site because the builder failed to keep workers safe, has shared his story. The incident and others like it led to the CFMEU campaigning for tough workplace safety laws, including one of the first industrial manslaughter laws in the country.

Peter Carter, the state secretary of the Electrical Trades Union, said much of the impetus for the attacks on the CFMEU came from a media trial by the corporate sector and the ALP state and federal governments. Carter said the deregistration of the Builders Labourers Federation in 1986 had not improved safety or other conditions in the building trades. It was not until the CFMEU was formed in 1992 that workplace safety, pay and conditions improved. The Royal Commission into the Construction Industry used forensic accounting to examine the accounts of the ETU, CEPU (Plumbers Union) and CFMEU and found no wrongdoing by the unions. he did construction companies were far from clean. Carter criticized the ACTU for giving in so easily to federal Labor’s demands and also asked: “Why are corporate accusations of impropriety any different to union accusations?”

Emma, ​​a construction worker who became a first responder after a recent tragic death on a building site, said the experience was eye-opening. As a 24-year-old woman on the site, she had been subjected to bullying and sexual harassment but had the support of her union to fight these attacks. For Emma, ​​the CFMEU represented good safety, conditions and pay at work.

The demonstration took place from Forrest Place to Elizabeth Quay to show Perth the unity and solidarity of organised labour in action. At Elizabeth Quay, union demonstrators spoke about how the workplace was safe and how the union’s income protection scheme was saving workers’ livelihoods. Mick Buchan also thanked the unions who organised the demonstration and marched in solidarity with the CFMEU, while AMWU State Secretary Steve McCartney recalled the Third Wave demonstrations of 1997, which also fought draconian laws designed to undermine organised labour. He said it would not be the last rally on the issue and urged all workers present to return to their workplaces and to inform those who were not present to come to the next one.

The Communist Party of Australia supports the CFMEU in its fight against the unfair imposition of these laws by the federal ALP government and calls for further support from unions and communities to support unions that represent families, communities and workers.

Richard Titelius, Perth Branch

MELBOURNE: Some 50,000 workers have walked off the job to demonstrate against Labor’s draconian anti-union laws aimed at destroying the CFMEU. The federal government’s takeover of Australia’s most prominent union has had a major impact on its Victorian-Tasman division, with the resignation of secretary John Setka then in recent days the administrator fired the directors and organizers. Prime Minister Jacinta Allan openly supported the changes introduced by the Albanian government, announcing her own “detailed plan to confront this national threat” in July.

While some rallies talked about surviving the administration, speakers at the Melbourne event talked about opposing, fighting and overthrowing it, meeting with enthusiastic support and applause.

With key infrastructure projects being delivered by CFMEU members in Melbourne, including the Suburban Rail Loop and Metro Tunnel, further action by aggrieved rank-and-file members will create serious problems for state and federal Labor governments who appear to be keen to put party agendas and big business interests ahead of retaining their supposedly working-class voters.

Labour ministers and the Fair Work Ombudsman are encouraging employers to report “illegal industrial action” in their workplaces.

Adam Mayers, Melbourne Branch