Ron Perkins, Perth
Workers living in Western Australia would be forgiven for thinking PM John Howard's anti-union IR legislation has already become law. Besides instances of unfair dismissals already reported, the construction division of the WA branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has been singled out for attack by the federal Building Industry Taskforce (BIT), state Coalition MPs, the Master Builders Association and the corporate "news" media.
The concerted media slander campaign against the CFMEU has been led by WA's only daily newspaper, the West Australian, along with the Murdoch-owned Sunday Times. Barely a day passes without the CFMEU being accused of holding WA's construction industry to ransom.
CFMEU state secretary Kevin Reynolds has been subjected to personal attacks by opinion columns of the West Australian, aw well as derogatory cartoons. The paper has even run a page three "expose" of his personal assets.
The current round of enterprise bargaining agreements being negotiated between the CFMEU and construction companies has been used as a pretext for the attacks on the union. Despite negotiations being finalised for almost 100 agreements, some of the big building companies are holding off from signing new EBAs, waiting to see details of the industry codes to be introduced in proposed federal IR legislation.
With EBAs being held up, bouts of what the media have dubbed "blu-flu" have resulted in construction workers taking sick leave en masse on several construction sites, including the $1.5 billion Perth-Mandurah railway project where Leightons is the primary contractor.
Despite unforeseen engineering difficulties accounting for the overwhelming majority of the rail project's highly publicised costing blow-out, a hysterical condemnation of the "blu-flu" has been used to attack the CFMEU.
A skills shortage in the booming WA construction industry has placed the CFMEU in a strong bargaining position, enabling it to win EBAs that give construction workers higher wages and better working conditions. For the Master Builders Association, this is an intolerable situation and, with the backing of the state parliamentary opposition, the MBA has called upon the WA Labor government to intervene in the EBA negotiations at the Perth- Mandurah rail project.
WA Coalition leader Matt Birney has asserted, citing undisclosed sources, that CFMEU-negotiated EBAs were making it harder for construction firms to secure finances for building projects. However, the August 4 West Australian reported that approvals for home and commercial building in WA had risen a whopping 15.6% in 2004-05, compared to the national average of only 1.9%. The report also noted that MBA WA housing director Gavan Forster said both housing and commercial building was doing well.
A number of construction companies are spending large sums of money to get construction workers on to Australian Workplace Agreement (AWAs) or are filing for damages against the union over strike action during EBA negotiations.
The MBA is salivating at the prospect of employing this tactic to bankrupt the union, with its WA director Michael McLean telling the August 9 West Australian that it may be possible to have the CFMEU's assets eaten up by legal costs and fines over the next few years.
Federal health minister Tony Abbott has tried to apply pressure to the Australian Medical Association over the "blu-flu" situation by saying that the federal health department may begin an investigation into alleged fraudulent issuing of medical certificates to construction workers.
Of greater immediacy to the WA CFMEU, however, is its direct targeting by the BIT. Headed by Nigel Hadgiss, former director of the National Crime Authority, the BIT was given coercive, royal commission-style powers in late June, including the ability to compel people to answer questions, even if those answers may incriminate them. In some circumstances, there is a penalty of up to six months' jail for refusing to comply.
The new powers come as the BIT prepares to transform itself into the Australian Building and Construction Commission — with triple the staff, from 55 to 155 — on October 1. While the BIT had a budget of $9.3 million last financial year, the ABCC will have an initial budget of at least $23 million.
The BIT's establishment in September 2002 was timed to coincide with the CFMEU's 2002-03 enterprise bargaining campaign. Then workplace relations minister Tony Abbott claimed the BIT would be used to stop an "outbreak of illegal practices associated with ... enterprise bargaining". However, employers used it to try to stop a 36-hour working week becoming generalised throughout the construction industry.
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, August 24, 2005.
Visit the