Federal Labor鈥檚 decision to place the Construction Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) into administration may become a significant headache for the so-called party of the working class.
Labor, with Coalition and Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) support, passed a draconian law on August 20 specifically aimed at the CFMEU construction division.
The Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU group, which formed after the new law was passed, revealed on October 30 that the unelected administrators are being paid from CFMEU funds, over which union members have no control.
The , linked to Labor and the ACTU, were leaked to the CFMEU defence group.
The data shows that, after a month of 鈥渨ork鈥, , including administrator Mark Irving.
Irving is being paid $643,640 a year out of CFMEU members鈥 funds.
Totalled up over 12 months, the wages for these 11 people amount to the entire annual amount spent by the CFMEU鈥檚 Adelaide branch and almost as much as that spent by the Western Australian branch, according to spokespeople from Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU.
Meanwhile, it has also been leaked that none of the sacked Victorian CFMEU officials were paid their .
Workers and officials employed by the CFMEU have legal contracts stating they have five weeks 鈥渘otice in lieu鈥, a payment given in lieu of employment if they were not given any notice before being sacked.
Significantly, when Grahame McCulloch, Irving鈥檚 assistant in the Melbourne CFMEU office, resigned after three weeks, he was paid eight weeks in lieu. McCulloch was forced to resign after allegations were raised about inappropriate behaviour towards female staff.
Union sources are angry at the double standard applied to McCulloch compared to Elias Spernovasilis, a sacked official, who had given 30 years to the CFMEU. Spernovasilis has had no allegations of corruption against him.
Tim Gooden, Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU spokesperson, told 麻豆传媒 that CFMEU members are 鈥渘ot going to accept bureaucrats bleeding the union dry and living the high life鈥. He聽said Anthony Albanese 鈥渨ould be punished鈥.
鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about 100,000 CFMEU members and their families, nationally, who are becoming increasingly outraged,鈥 Gooden said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 even before we take into account the many hundreds of thousands of workers in other unions who are watching on with growing disgust.鈥
Gooden said that support leaflets handed out at the聽, had been enthusiastically received by workers from many industries.
He reported that solidarity statements with the CFMEU were made to the 900 HSRs, including from a National Tertiary Education Union delegate. Some workers expressed their discontent with Labor, which they said no longer represented them.
Union sources also say a record number of CFMEU members renewed their financial membership in Victoria over the last month.
This is despite the CFMEU administrator seeking to blame the union and its former leadership for the slow approval rate of enterprise agreements and, in some cases, the cancellation of back pay.
Gooden said the ratification of agreements through Fair Work normally takes two to three weeks but, for 鈥渞idiculous reasons鈥, it is now taking months. He said it is adding to the anger already felt by a lot of CFMEU members.
Meanwhile, several hundred rank-and-file CFMEU members attended a branch meeting on October 30, where they showed overwhelming support to CFMEU staff, organisers and Zach Smith, the CFMEU鈥檚 national secretary of the construction and general division.