Labor is cutting ties with the CFMEU as corruption accusations dog the disgraced union.
The union’s construction arm is under fire over allegations of corrupt conduct and organised crime links in its ranks, with the Fair Work Commission set to appoint an independent administrator to the union.
Several state Labor governments have moved against the union with Queensland freezing talks and NSW and Victoria pausing donations from the organisation.
Adding fuel to the fire, the head of peak union body, the ACTU, revealed she would not be welcome on a building site amid concerns for her safety.
Soon after, federal ALP heayweights met and matched the response of their state branches.
Labor’s national secretary Paul Erickson said it would suspend the CFMEU’s construction division’s affiliation to the NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmanian branches of the party.
This means the national Labor Party, including its state and territory branches, will not accept affiliation fees or political donations from the troubled union arm.
“The number one job of any union and its officials is to look after its members. The reported behaviour is the complete opposite of this,” Mr Erickson said.
The suspension will remain in place until further notice and the party will consider suspending affiliations with the union’s other branches if they are placed into administration.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has vowed to introduce legislation if there were any challenges to the commission’s attempts to put the construction branch of the CFMEU into administration.
He has requested the Fair Work Ombudsman review enterprise agreements made by the Victorian branch of the CFMEU’s construction division after a request from Premier Jacinta Allan and called on the Australian Federal Police to investigate the reports.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government had taken swift measures.
“Where we see corrupt conduct, we want it stamped out,” he told reporters in Queensland.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has urged the government to deregister the union.
But Griffith University law professor John Flood said that was an unnecessary “nuclear” option.
“All of the enterprise agreements that have been negotiated over the years with various contractors and companies collapse, they disappear,” he told AAP.
“For the actual workers involved, it would be very harmful.”
Fallout from the allegations has rattled the broader labour rights movement with the ACTU moving to suspend the construction division of the CFMEU.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus said she was previously unaware of the allegations but believed it would take years for the union to purge its alleged criminal elements and restore its name.
She revealed she had been warned of threats to her safety after previous attempts to go after the CFMEU but said she and the ACTU “will not flinch”.
“I would not be welcome in the front door of their office, let alone on a building site,” she said.
“We will do what’s necessary, I will do what’s necessary, the union leadership will do what’s necessary.”
The Queensland Major Contractors Association said it had raised concerns about the union’s intimidatory behaviour for years, only to have them fall on deaf ears within the state government.
The head of the national workplace relations regulator said investigations into the CFMEU were continuing, after being asked to examine the allegations by Mr Burke.
“If unlawful conduct is established, we will take appropriate enforcement action,” Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said.
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