Summer Issue 2010 - cfmeu

ABCC UPDATE
with Joe McDonald
Apparently, the ABCC has saved Australia!
The good old Master Builders of
Australia, that independent and
credible force who love unions to
bits, has released the fourth annual
edition of the KPMG Econtech
report that purports to show the
productivity contribution of the
Australian Building & Construction
Commission.
According to the report, productivity
reforms in the building and
construction industry through the
ABCC and related industrial
relations initiatives have added
9.4 per cent to labour productivity in
the construction industry. Go figure!
The report says the gain to the
community equates to $59 billion
over 10 years or $5.9bn annually.
We must be all feeling rich then, eh?
It says the effects of the ABCC have
contributed to a permanent
reduction in inflation of about 0.7
per cent and a 0.6 per cent boost to
gross domestic product. Still the
RBA puts up interest rates, such is
the good job that the ABCC is
doing!
The ABCC was also responsible for
the discovery of an actual pot of
gold at the end of the rainbow… is
there anything these prized pack of
putrid plods can’t do we ask?
The Construction Forestry Mining
and Energy Union attacks the
modeling used in the Econtech
report, which was commissioned by
the MBA.
Dave Noonan, the National
Secretary of the union's
construction division, said the report
relied on assumptions that had
previously been discredited by
reliable economic commentators.
“The ABCC has indeed
contributed to an
increase in Australia’s
funeral industry. ”
"In any event, the idea that
productivity in any industry is
enhanced by workers being
threatened with fines and
imprisonment is abhorrent,” he said.
Of course there was no mention of
productivity gains due to union
negotiated Enterprise Bargaining
Agreements.
Since the ABCC and Building
and Construction Industry laws
came in during 2005, there has
been a massive increase in
deaths and serious injuries in
our industry.
One of the criticisms of the Cole
Royal Commission was that the
CFMEU officials used safety
concerns as a pretext for entering
building sites and threatening
industrial action. Howard
Government Minister, Kevin
Andrews’ Act and Code addressed
that by severely limiting the
circumstances in which union
officials could act on safety issues,
or in which construction workers
could take industrial action over
safety issues.
The only problem was that safety
was not merely a pretext for union
activity. Construction is up with road
transport and mining as one of the
most dangerous occupations in the
country. And following the
imposition of Andrews’ legislation
and the extension of the building
industry code, deaths in the
constructions industry increased
massively, from 3.14 deaths per
100,000 workers in 2004 to 3.86 in
2005, 5.6 in 2006,
4.48 in 2007 and
4.27 in 2008.
As a result of these figures, the
ABCC has indeed contributed to an
increase...in Australia’s funeral
industry! They must be so proud of
their contribution to a better
society?
The construction laws and ABCC
have taken us back to the terrible
situation of, on average, one
construction being killed on the job
every week.
It is an undisputable fact that limits
on right of entry for union organisers
have made safety worse.
We await the ABCC’s next triumph.
Perhaps they’ll make a contribution
to reducing global warming, be
responsible for curing cancer or
increase in-flows to the Murray
River basin?
Is that a pig I see
flying overhead?
Construction Worker – Summer 2010 Page 11
CFMEU