'It is abhorrent and it is intolerable,' minister says
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has requested the Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigate allegations of corruption against the Construction, Forestry, and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU).
Burke said he has written to the AFP commissioner to ask the agency to work with state police to "investigate and prosecute any criminal breaches."
The move is just one of the government's steps to "clean up the construction industry" after a Nine network investigation exposed alleged corruption within the CFMEU, particularly on its Victoria branch.
The latest in this expose showed a video footage showing a CFMEU boss who seem to accept cash from a developer seeking union support on a project, reported news.com.au.
Burke slammed these alleged reports of corruption in a press conference on Wednesday.
"The number one job of any union and its officials is to look after its members. The reported behaviour from the construction division of the CFMEU is the complete opposite of this," the minister said. "It is abhorrent and it is intolerable."
Government interventions
According to Burke, the CFMEU will be placed under an independent administrator who will be appointed by Fair Work Commission general manager Murray Furlong.
"The general manager of the Fair Work Commission is the best person placed to take this action," Burke said. "Any action that the general manager takes with respect to any part of the construction division of the CFMEU, I, as minister, will intervene in support of that action."
Burke has also requested the Fair Work Ombudsman to carry out a review of all enterprise agreements made by CFMEU Victoria that apply to "Victorian 'Big Build' projects."
According to the minister, the government will use its procurement powers to ensure that enterprise agreements used on government-funded projects are genuinely agreed and that workplaces are free from coercion and intimidation.
"I stress on this, we're seeking information on coercive behaviour. The government has no intention of taking any action which would put at risk the terms and conditions of employment of the workers who are covered by those agreements. This is not their fault," Burke said.
Administers should only be the first step
Meanwhile, national employer association Ai Group said removing the criminality from the union movement is the "only the very least that must be done."
"A commitment to addressing the disgraceful evidence of criminal conduct in the CFMEU through supporting the appointment of administers to the union must only be the first step in much broader action to both address this crisis, and to ensure that the complete failure of the workplace relations system to prevent such abuse of power by a union can never occur again," said Ai Group chief executive Innes Willox in a statement.
According to Willox, these reports against the CFMEU does not come as much of a surprise to those within the construction sector.
"Businesses have reported they have been subjected for years to intimidation and coercion by criminal elements fostered by the CFMEU," he added.
The Ai Group also called for an "independent regulator" with the right powers to deal with "coercion and wildly inappropriate" behaviour in the construction sector.
"We need to look at whether there are sufficient measures under our workplace laws to ensure the situation is not only addressed but never repeated," Willox said.
