BY NIKKI ULASOWSKI
PERTH — The royal commission into the construction industry, which has been conducting hearings around Australia since October, has just concluded its first hearings in Perth. The commission, headed by former NSW Supreme Court judge Terence Cole, continued its witch-hunt of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU). The WA media has joined the hysteria.
The April 14 Sunday Times editorial made its position clear: "Damning evidence in the Cole Royal Commission demands that [Labor] Premier Geoff Gallop act now against the powerful building workers' union. He acted decisively against bikies who believed they were above the law. Now he has to take the big stick to the industrial outlaws... Section 73 of the Industrial Relations Act allows for deregistration. For the sake of industry, the good name of most trade unions and the rule of law, Dr Gallop has to begin that process now. He has the ammunition. All he lacks is the will."
Master Builders Association executive director Michael McLean told the Sunday Times on April 21, "At the end of the day, the commercial imperatives outweigh the moral and ethical considerations. You have to break that nexus. That's where the government is in the best position to intervene."
WA secretary of the CFMEU Kevin Reynolds spoke to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly about the attacks on the union by the royal commission, the bosses and the media. He explained that the goal of Prime Minister John Howard's government is "to try to smash militancy in the union movement. They attacked the Maritime Union of Australia and crippled it ... Now, they are attacking the CFMEU".
Reynolds believes that the federal government and big business "are worried by the success of the CFMEU, particularly in winning a 36-hour week in Melbourne. In November, enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs) will be negotiated. There is an expectation that our union will be spreading the 36-hour week throughout Australia, which may lead to other unions, particularly blue-collar unions, to follow suit.
Reynolds noted that, because of the CFMEU's militancy and its success in achieving enterprise agreements that benefit construction workers, the federal workplace relations minister Tony Abbott has made it clear the government wants to smash the CFMEU.
"They are trying to cripple the CFMEU, in particular by attacking the Victorian and WA branches because they are considered the most militant branches", Reynolds told GLW.
Reynolds fears that the outcome of the royal commission will be new government and police powers that can be used against militant trade unions.
"Federal anti-terrorism laws and WA's 'anti-bikie gang' laws could also be used against the trade union movement", Reynolds warned. "They could try to allow other [conservative] unions to flourish on work sites. They could outlaw pattern bargaining and destroy EBAs, as we know them." Reynolds added that the CFMEU's construction divisions could be deregistered in Victoria and WA.
"The response of the [CFMEU] rank and file has been fantastic", Reynolds told GLW. "They understand that the attacks [in the royal commission] are about destroying their wages and conditions. They see what non-union workers get. We will be having more rallies and regular meetings to keep informing members of what's going on.
"At the end of the day, they will never break the fighting spirit of building workers. They will always stand up for their rights."
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, May 1, 2002.
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