ETU wants demerger laws repealed
Unions have slammed legislation that allows the break-up of the CFMMEU.
The Morrison Government passed legislation with bipartisan support late last year that allows members a wider window to vote on union demergers.
The Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) has since voted to split, after the mining and energy division announced its intention to break away.
Delegates of the mining and energy division say they were forced out after their position in the union had become “intolerable”.
“The ruthless use of raw numbers against the smaller divisions; the disrespect and disregard shown to the views of mining and energy workers ... is simply intolerable,” the delegates said.
“It is clear that there is no longer a place of equality and dignity for the mining and energy division within the amalgamated union.”
But now, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) wants the ALP to reverse its support for legislation and have it repealed.
The ETU’s divisional executive has also called on the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to make its views public. The ACTU did not publicly criticise the laws when they were passed last year, but ETU national secretary Allen Hicks says ACTU secretary Sally McManus and president Michele O’Neil have told delegates they have “a strategy in place to deal with (the legislation)”.
“This demerger bill will leave a cancerous legacy,” Mr Hicks said.
“The union movement needs to stand up and call on the government to repeal it. These laws were poorly drafted, ill-conceived with no regard whatsoever for the impact on the broader union movement.
“This shouldn’t have gone through without a fight, and it’s up to the ALP to fix their mistake.”
CFMMEU mining division general president Tony Maher reportedly met with Industrial Relations Minister Christian Porter about the proposed laws last year.
Now that the mining division delegates have voted to break away from the union, Mr Hicks says “the future of the union movement must not be determined on a whim in a deal with Christian Porter”.
The ETU executive condemned Mr Maher’s “secret backroom deal”, saying it was was “made to solve a political headache for a small group of union officials at the expense of the broader labour movement”.