Thousands of tradies to walk from construction sites in ‘solidarity with the CFMEU’ after 270 staff members were sacked

Thousands of tradies across Australia will walk from construction sites to march ‘in solidarity with the CFMEU’ after 270 of its employees were sacked. 

The coalition of unions, known as the Building Industry Group of Unions, will urge their 85,000 Victorian members to ditch their tools from 11am on Tuesday. 

The unprotected industrial action will see tens of thousands of workers march in coordinated rallies Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Cairns.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) has issued a stark warning to those planning to march saying employers are legally required to dock pay by a minimum of four hours from employees who engage in unprotected industrial action.

‘Please be aware that if an employee fails to attend the workplace or stops work without authorisation from their employer, this conduct may be unprotected industrial action in contravention of the FW Act,’ a FWO spokesman said.

‘Any person ‘knowingly involved’ in a contravention of the FW Act is also taken to have contravened that provision. 

‘Where an employee has engaged in unprotected industrial action, the employer is required under the FW Act to deduct a minimum of four hours wages from the employee, even if the industrial action was less than four hours.’

One source told the Herald Sun the march ‘was happening’ and that the coalition of unions were angry at how the Victorian CFMEU branch had been treated. 

John Setka (pictured) resigned as Victorian secretary of the CMFEU on July 12, 2024

They denied bikies had infiltrated the branch and said members were  concerned over speculation employers could throw up ‘gold-plated’ CFMEU pay deals.

The Victorian government said it could not confirm what impacts the project would have on major projects across the state. 

‘Everyone has a right to protest,’ Public Transport Minister Gabrielle Williams said on Sunday. 

It comes after the Victorian CMFEU branch was put into administration on August 12 following reports of bikies acting as union delegates, including one official earning $250,000 a year as a health and safety officer.’

The union’s national office has now taken executive control, overriding the state branch, following John Setka’s resignation as Victorian secretary. 

The move resulted in 11 senior union officials across NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland branches losing their jobs, while 270 elected union officials were sacked from unpaid positions. 

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt reportedly acknowledged the right to protest but said the construction division of the CFMEU has gone into administration regardless of any industrial action.

‘Construction work is hard, dangerous work, and construction workers deserve a union that is strong and effective but also is clean,’ Senator Watt told the Herald Sun.

‘I think that is in the interest of construction workers and the union movement more generally.’ 

The unprotected industrial action will see hundreds of tradies reportedly march ‘in solidarity with the CMFEU’ from the city’s State Library (pictured, construction workers in Sydney)

Senator Watt revealed he had no involvement in Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s decision to put the construction division into administration.

‘I had no conversation or discussions with Mark Dreyfus at all,’ Senator Watt said on Sunday. 

‘He made that decision independently, and again, that was done in order to ensure that these laws and these decisions stand up in court.’

Employment law expert Professor Andrew Stewart told Daily Mail Australia that CFMEU officials would continue to oversee Victorian building sites despite the organisation being placed in administration. 

‘There’s no legal effect at all, unlike what would happen if, unlikely at present, the union were deregistered,’ the University of Adelaide academic said. 

This means the CFMEU will continue to have a stranglehold on major projects including the Victoria’s Labor government’s $90billion Big Build program, covering 165 road and rail projects.