Winter Issue 2010- 'Special History Edition' - cfmeu

Special History Edition
ARK TRIBE:
ABCC
HAS
TO GO
NW CRANE
DRIVERS
STAND
STRONG
MAY DAY
2010
LIFT OUT
POSTER
AMBULANCE
COVER
CAN SAVE
YOUR LIFE
LIBS
IGNORE UNION
SAFETY
ROLE

C F M E U D I R E C T O R Y
President
Secretary
Assistant Secretaries
Cam McCullough
Kevin Reynolds
Joe McDonald, Graham Pallot
UNION OFFICERS
Mick Buchan OH&S Officer 0419 812 861
Jack Nicholas
Industrial Advocate
Matthew Swinbourn Industrial Advocate
Shannon Walker Industrial Advocate
Kevin Sneddon Industrial Advocate
Jill Hawkins
IR/Legal Assistant
Kelly Hawkins
IR/Legal Assistant
Rod Reynolds
Wage Claims
Peta Arnold
Office Manager
Hayley Fryer
Membership Officer
Linda Pallot
Accounts Officer
Rob Mitchell
Media and Communications
Tammy Hall
Reception
ORGANISERS
Brad Upton
0488 770 857 (North West)
Phil Kennedy
0427 244 141 (North West)
Troy Smart
0419 812 871 (South West)
Mark Hudston 0419 812 864
Vinnie Molina 0419 812 872
Graham Pallot 0419 812 865
Matt Waters 0419 812 875
Paul Ferreira 0427 244 147
Aaron Mackrell 0403 432 221
Peter Joshua 0433 410 596
Hoani Dennison 0459 135 032
Oliver Godwin 0459 135 031
Rob Pearson 0459 135 033
The Union Office is located at
82 Royal Street East Perth WA 6004
Open 7:00am – 5:00pm Monday to Friday
PO Box 6681 East Perth WA 6892
Telephone: (08) 9221 1055
Facsimile: (08) 9221 1506
E-Mail: cfmeuwa@cfmeuwa.com
Website: www.cfmeuwa.com
All rights reserved: The Construction Worker Journal is complied & published
by the CFMEU publications department. All copyright belongs to the CFMEU.
No part of the publication may be reproduced or copied in any means without
the written permission of the publisher.
Disclaimer: The information contained within this publication is for general
construction workers only. While every care is taken to ensure accuracy of
information, we accept no responsibility for any action taken as a
consequence of the information contained in this publication.
ISS 1833 0282
C O N T E N T S
Secretary’s Address 3
The struggle: Where it all began 5
How the CFMEU WA became one BIG union 7
Labourers rise up the ladder 9
Saving our past for the future 10
Building a social conscience 13
The day one million went on strike 15
Not always a labor of love 17
The battle for the ‘Workers Embassy’ 18
A history of fighting for safety 21
Hey Dad, look what boss gave me! 25
How the West was won... 26
The skills training centre revolution 29
The true meaning of May Day 31
May Day Poster 32
ARK TRIBE: Making a stand for justice 35
Ambulance Benefit: saving members lives. 37
Union could save lives and millions 39
New recruits for the frontline 41
Bad laws cost lives 43
New Arrivals 43
SIGTUR Congress Report 45
City Round Up 45
International News 47
Eastern Suburbs Report 49
Con Tseronis hangs up his hammer 49
South West Report 51
Off the Site 51
ABCC Update 53
A visit with Julia Gillard 53
The North West Report 55
Off Cuts 57
The South Metro Report 59
457 Worker Update 59
Northern Suburbs Report 61
‘Cyclone Kennedy’ heads North 61
Bosses want to keep NW workers in the dark! 63
Pete’s Page 64
GOT A STORY, PHOTO OR COMMENT?
Email : editor@cfmeuwa.com
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 1
CFMEU

S E C R E TA R Y ’ S A D D R E S S
with Kevin Reynolds
Welcome to this special ‘History’ edition of your journal.
Why did a million workers
walk off the job on one
day?
How did the humble
builder’s labourer start to
earn a decent quid?
What made Bob Hawke
want to smash the BLF?
What battles did we fight
to get the wages and
conditions we have
today?
It’s not meant to be a detailed
analysis of our history, rather a
general overview. Although it
touches on some of the very early
history of our union and unions in
general, this edition deals mainly
with the modern era dating from the
1960’s and 70’s up to the mid 90’s
when most building unions came
together to form ‘One Big Union’
with the formation of the CFMEU in
WA. It’s important for our members
to have an overview of our history.
Where we came from. Who we are.
What happened to shape us into the
type of union we are today. The
battles we fought.
It’s up to us to tell our own story and
it’s your story too! There are many
events that have transpired over the
years that you probably don’t know
about.
We can’t rely on a biased mass
media to tell our story for us, we
have to tell and pass on our own
story. It’s a proud story of struggle,
fights, defeat and victories.
I especially think younger members
will be surprised and even inspired
by what they learn.
What you read here will also be
forming the basis of a special
magazine/booklet we will be
publishing soon that will have even
more information about the events
and people up to the present day
that have made our union one of the
most effective for its members in
Australian industrial history. Stay
tuned, it will be out soon.
Ark Tribe – ABCC out to
destroy a decent bloke.
ARK TRIBE:
JAIL ONE, JAIL ALL?
As you know, Ark Tribe is a decent
hardworking family man who was
singled out by the ABCC after he
attended a safety meeting on a site
in Adelaide. He reused to divulge
what was discussed at that
meeting. For that he faces 6 months
jail when he goes to court on June
15th, 16th and 18th. The site was
described as having some of the
worst safety breaches ever seen.
This is a bad law. It’s not about
Rudd anymore – it’s about right or
wrong. And these laws are WRONG!
When injustice becomes law,
defiance becomes duty!
MAMMOET CRANE DRIVERS
STAY STRONG.
We give all our support to the
Mammoet crane drivers and all the
workers who have financially
supported their plight. The
Mammoet 12 took protected action
as is their right, only
to be kicked
out of camp I’ve
and locked
kicked in
for the
out by the
company for
a further 28
days. It’s a petty
disgrace. Together
we will win. See the North West
report this issue.
In relation to the North West I am
pleased to announce that we have
expanded union service in the North
West by appointing another
experienced CFMEU Organiser, Phil
Kennedy, to work with Brad Upton
out of our Karratha office.
Now the union that’s known for
turning up will be showing up even
more!
Always be paid up and proud.
Sincerely
Kevin Reynolds
State Secretary
CFMEU C&G WA
•
•
•
•
I’VE KICKED
•
CKED
• •
IN
IN
FOR
THE MAMMOET
MAMMOE
Mammoet 12!
12!
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 3
CFMEU
•
• •
•
•
•
•

The struggle: Where it all began.
The early 1830’s saw the formation
of a number of unions, the
Shipwrights Union in 1830, the
Boat Builders Union in 1831, and the
Cabinetmakers Union in 1833. In 1838,
the Society of Compositors proved
unions were important for Australian
workers with a successful strike for a
weekly wage increase of 5 shillings and
five pence.
The beginning of our union goes
back to the formation of the
Stonemason’s Union in 1850. It was one
of the first unions in the world.
Although, it wasn’t until the early 20th
century that we saw the first full-time
paid union officials. Outstanding
amongst these was the leader of the
Bricklayers Union, Jack Kilburn.
From fighting conscription in the
1910’s, leading the 44 hour week
campaign in the 1920’s, fighting fascism
and becoming a Labor member of
parliament in the 1930’s, and helping
form the Building Workers Industrial
Union in the 1940’s, Kilburn was a giant
of both the industrial and political
wings of the labour movement.
However, the real beginnings of
unionism in Australia can perhaps be
traced back to 6 men who were sent
Down Under as convicts.
The Tolpuddle Martyrs is the name
the given to a group of English
labourers who were part of one of the
earliest trade unions in the world.
Originating in the small town of
Tolpuddle, England, this group of
workers played a significant part in
trade union history.
In 1830 the wage of an agricultural
labourer was nine shillings, which
would only be enough to buy a family
their bread for a week, let alone other
food, rent and goods. In the following
years their wage was reduced to eight
shillings, and then to seven and in 1834
it went down to a mere six shillings.
The Tolpuddle
Martyrs:
Arguably started
the union
movement after
being harshly
deported to
Australia.
This was an extremely low wage and
many found this too hard to live off.
Their diet was basic – tea, bread and
potatoes. As a result, the people were
badly undernourished.
It was for these reasons that
sometime between 1831 and 1833, the
men of Tolpuddle decided to stand up
for their rights and form a union. They
called it the Friendly Society of
Agricultural Labourers (FSAL).
The union began to grow and after
gaining more and more members, they
decided they were powerful enough to
stop work, demanding that they be paid
10 shillings a week before they would
return.
Their strike created a lot of interest
throughout rural southern England. In
March 1834 this caused the
Government to arrest six of the FSAL
members – James Brine, James
Hammett, George Loveless, James
Loveless (George's brother), George's
brother in-law, Thomas Standfield and
his son, John Standfield.
The six were arrested for unlawful
assembly and charged with
'administering unlawful oaths'. The
Unlawful Oaths Act had been passed in
1797 to deal with navy officers rebelling
against authority. It was for breaking
this law that they were brought to trial.
The jury found them all guilty as
charged. The judge, under pressure
from the Government, sentenced the
six men to seven years transportation to
the penal colony in New South Wales,
Australia. 'Not for anything they had
done, but as an example to others'.
However the six men had became
popular heroes with the public, and a
large protest movement formed. One of
their supporters, Lord John Russell,
argued to the Prime Minister for their
release. In his statement he said ‘that if
being members of a secret society and
administering secret oaths was a crime,
the reactionary Duke of Cumberland as
head of the Orange Lodges was equally
deserving of transportation.’
In March 1836, in the face of public
outcry and pressure, the Government
was forced to cancel the mens’
sentences and they were set free.
After their release, most of the men
moved on. Only one of the six, James
Hammett settled again in Tolpuddle,
where he died in 1891. Among the
others, three migrated to Canada,
where John Standfield eventually
became the Mayor of his district.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 5
CFMEU

How the CFMEU WA became one BIG union.
In Western Australia up until 1966
there was only a state Builder's
Labourer's Union. It had no
affiliation whatsoever with the federal
body. In 1969 the then Secretary of the
WA BLF, a fellow named Ron Davies
and the then President, a fellow named
Ron Healy were instrumental in getting
Norm Gallagher, who was the National
Secretary of the BLF and Marco
Masterson who was the union’s
National Organiser, to come to Western
Australia. And they convinced the West
Australian Executive and members to
affiliate.
At that time, the BLF in Western
Australia had about 1100 members. It
was a very small and ineffectual union.
The majority of its members were
employed directly by the Public Works
Department (PWD). The PWD had a
total of about 400 and the SEC (State
Electricity Commission) had 150 or so
Builders Labourers. Alongside them in
the building union movement was the
BWIU (Building Workers Industrial
Union). They derived from an
amalgamation of the Australasian
Carpenters and Joiners Union and the
Bricklayers Union.
The Building Workers Industrial
Union then amalgamated in the 70’s
with the Federated Engine Drivers.
The Painter’s Union and the
Plasterer’s Union eventually joined up
with the Builder’s Labourers Union
(BLF) to form the BLPPU – the
Builder’s Labourers Painters and
Plasters Union (WA).
By the late 1980’s the move was on by
the Australian Council of Trade Unions
(ACTU) to encourage unions to merge.
At its 1989 biennial congress the
Australian Council of Trade Unions
(ACTU) determined a policy for the
future structure of trade unions in
Australia. Broadly, the new policy
encouraged unions to amalgamate, with
Union banner depicting the unions which amalgamated to form today’s CFMEU WA.
the intention of consolidating their
human and financial resources to form
better resourced, larger, industrial
unions.
Initially, the BLF in WA was not
enamored with this idea. The view then
was that smaller unions could provide a
more personalised service to its
members. In one sense that was true but
as it’s since been proved, smaller unions
were going to struggle financially, and
they had to reinvent themselves and
operate just like any other business to
survive. A broke union could do
nothing for its members. One that had
financial clout could do a lot more. So,
after much deliberation the early 1990’s
saw the emergence of ‘One Big Union’
for the construction industry – the
CFMEU Construction & General
Division – with a federal structure and
democratic representation in every
State and Territory.
In the final analysis, unions which merged or were amalgamated to
become today's CFMEU (WA) included;
• Builders Labourers Federation
• Building Workers Industrial Union
• F.E.D.F.A. – Federated Engine Drivers & Firemen Association
• F.B.T.P.U. – Federated Brick, Tile & Pottery Union
• Operative Painters and Decorators Union
• Operative Plasters Union
• Australian Timbers Workers Union
• United Mine Workers Union of Australia
• Bricklayers and Rubble Wallers Union
• Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners
• Operative Stone Masons Union
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 7
CFMEU

"Today, wherever one looks across our vast continent, the great construction feats – from the internationally famous
Sydney Opera House to the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric project, from the reconstructed Darwin, raised up out
of the cyclone disaster of 1974, to the beautiful buildings that have grown up to grace the sky-lines of Sydney,
Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, the homes, hospitals, schools, the universities and places of leisure and
culture, buildings old and new, all stand as lasting monuments to the sweat, skill and toil of the Australian building
worker.” – Pat Clancy, National Secretary, Building Workers Industrial Union. 1973 – 1985.
Under Clancy’s leadership the first national building trades construction award was processed through the
Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission in 1975.
Labourers rise up the ladder
Up until the 1960’s BLF members still did much of the
hardest, dirtiest, most dangerous and least skilled work
in the industry.
Employers treated labourers with contempt, believing they
should live well within their means and not have dreams or
aspirations associated with people in the middle class.
Labourers were not meant to think they could rise up the
ladder of opportunity to give their family a better future.
In the 1960’s this was all about to change.
New construction techniques in the 1960’s meant that
‘labourer’s’ had become every bit as important as the
tradesmen, particularly on high-rise city sites. The old image
of the Builders Labourer as an unskilled tradesman’s helper
and general labourer was out of date.
This fact gave the union much more industrial clout than
previously, but it was not reflected in Builders Labourers’ pay
rates, which lagged far behind those of the traditional
craftsmen.
Union leaders at that time – Norm Gallagher, Pat Clancy,
Jack Mundey and Paddy Malone, were determined that this
situation had to change.
In 1970, the union embarked on a campaign of militant
strikes, effectively shutting down the industry with mass
picketing on a scale not seen before in the industry. The
employers, not used to mass participation of the membership
in industrial action, caved in after five weeks and granted
large, across the board pay rises and, most importantly, set
Builders Labourers’ wages nearer to craftsmen’s rates.
For example, labourer’s rates over 4 different classifications
ranged from 86% up to 98% of carpenter rates.
At the same time in NSW, the union experimented with the
ideas of workers’ control, occupying construction sites,
electing their own foremen, staging sit-ins and “working in”
in response to lock-outs, poor safety conditions and sackings.
The long-downtrodden Builders Labourer had found a new
solidarity and dignity. Harry Connell, a long-time militant,
recalled that before the Left’s takeover of the union, builders’
labourers would, if questioned about their occupation, reply
self-deprecatingly, “Oh, I’m just a labourer”. Afterwards, they
would answer proudly, “I’m a Builders Labourer, bloody
Builders Labourer and proud of it!”
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 9
CFMEU

SAVING OUR PAST
Long before saving our heritage became popular, your union took on the fight to save Australia’s historic
treasures. However, it was more than just saving buildings from the wrecker’s ball. It was also about
stopping poor people from being kicked out of their inner city housing. People from all walks of life
supported the fight. Union leaders went to jail and had their lives threatened on a daily basis. The first
green bans (or black bans as they were also called) had begun.
It is to the great credit of militant
building workers in Australia that
over 30 years ago they nailed their
green colours to the mast and insisted
that ecology was as much the concern
of workers as wages and conditions.
BLF NSW Secretary, Jack Mundey
asked “What is the use of higher wages
alone, if we have to live in cities devoid
of parks, bare of trees, in an atmosphere
poisoned by pollution and vibrating
with the noise of hundreds of thousands
of units of private transport?”
The Green Bans movement, as it came
to be known, was perhaps the most
radical example of ‘working class
environmentalism’ ever seen in the
world. At its peak it held up billions of
dollars worth of undesirable
development and it saved large areas of
the city of Sydney – streets, old
buildings, parks and whole suburbs –
from demolition.
In Victoria Norm Gallagher led the
fight. He stopped a McDonalds
Restaurant being built on Bakery Hill,
the site of the Eureka Stockade
rebellion. In Carlton he placed a black
ban on a public open space that was
used by a lot of kids. Developers had
wanted to build a Kleenex factory on
the site. For his commitment to save the
site Gallagher copped a 14 day jail term.
After getting out he was crowed King of
Carlton and famously led the parade
atop a camel during the Carlton
BLF unionists in Sydney
marching to defend the unions green bans
Norm Gallagher leading the Carlton
festival atop a camel after being
proclaimed ‘King of Carlton’ for saving a
Children’s park from development
Festival. The open-space, park area he
saved is now fittingly called Gallagher
Reserve. He was also responsible, with
others, for saving the Victorian
markets. And the union played a big
role in saving the Regent Theatre and
many other inner city projects around
Melbourne.
There is even evidence that the term
“Green” itself, as a synonym for
ecological activism, came from those
struggles. In 1997, the Australian
Greens Senator, Bob Brown, said: “Petra
Kelly, a German politician who was
instrumental in founding the first
Green Party to rise to prominence
worldwide, saw the Green Bans which
the unions were then imposing on
untoward developments in Sydney.
Petra Kelly took back to Germany this
idea of Green Bans, or the terminology.
Page 10 Construction Worker – Winter 2010

FOR THE FUTURE.
The disastrous plan of what greedy
developers wanted to do to the now
historical ‘Rocks area’ – birthplace of
Australian settlement – saved by the
union
The historic Palace Hotel facade
saved from the wrecker’s ball
As best as we can track down, that is
where the word “green” as applied to the
emerging Greens in Europe came from”.
The union leadership realised that it
would be wrong and self-defeating to
try to impose industrial action in
support of the environment on the
members. By debate and argument at
mass stop work or on-the-job meetings,
BLF officials convinced the members to
support an all-out assault on the
previously sacred right of the builders
and developers to re-model the face of
Sydney, Melbourne and other
Australian cities as they saw fit.
Here in WA, Kevin Reynolds and the
BLF placed Green Bans on the historic
Palace Hotel in St. Georges Terrace,
Victoria Hall in Fremantle and helped
to save the original Peninsula Hotel in
Maylands. Union actions also helped to
preserve much of Fremantle's heritage
including the Orient Hotel.
During the 1960’s, Australian cities
underwent drastic change. There were
fortunes to be made as old buildings
and precincts were torn down and
replaced, often with modernistic
skyscrapers, because space in the inner
city fetched astronomical prices.
In the course of this great boom, the developers were not concerned with what was
destroyed – Georgian terraces, Victorian spires and domes, parkland, jewels of art
deco all fell to the wrecker’s ball.
Scab labour would be used in nocturnal operations to pull down heritage-listed
buildings. This was "capitalism in the raw" as described by Marx and Engels in The
Communist Manifesto, where “all that is solid melts into air” in the frenzy for profit.
Modernist planners had become the thieves of memory. All too willing in their
eagerness to erase all traces of the past, in the name of progress. They had killed whole
communities, by evicting them, demolishing their houses, and dispersing them to the
edge of suburbs or leaving them homeless.
The union and its supporters did not oppose all change, recognising that there was a
place for urban renewal to make cities livable for their inhabitants. What they did
oppose was the unwarranted assumption that what was good for the developers was
automatically good for the environment, Australian cities or their people.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 11
CFMEU

Building a social conscience.
This union and its members have
always had a social conscience. A
union does more than improve
wages and conditions.
Australian unions have a long history
of political and social involvement.
During World War I, for example, they
waged a dogged fight against
conscription. In 1938 wharfies in
Australia refused to load scrap steel
aboard the SS “Dalfram”, bound for
Japan, arguing that it would end up as
bombs and bullets for use against the
Chinese people.
In the 1940’s, wharfies and seamen
were in the forefront of the movement
of solidarity with the Indonesian
Revolution against Dutch colonialism,
successfully black-banning Dutch
shipping in Australian ports.
After the Australian government
committed troops to support the US in
Vietnam in 1964, the maritime unions
refused to load or sail any vessels to
Indochina.
Building unions threw their power
behind the anti-war movement and into
other causes such as the fighting against
apartheid. The BLF encouraged women
to work in what had been an all-male
preserve, winning an important
breakthrough at a building site after
women “worked in” with the support of
their male colleagues.
In 1973, Denise Bishop was elected to
the BLF and Executive and became
possibly the first female organiser of a
construction union in the world.
Building unions also ensured that
their largely immigrant workforce was
provided with bilingual organisers –
before this, the needs of non-English
speakers were largely ignored.
In another celebrated case, the BLF
“black banned” work on a Macquarie
University hall of residence when the
Student Representative Council
BTG Officials Miller,
Purse, Foster, Clancy
marching for peace
on May Day
Campaigning for Aboriginals to
become Australian citizens and
for the right to vote.
Anti Vietnam War protest
approached them on behalf of a gay student who had been expelled. This was
probably the first instance of such an action in the world (and it was successful).
Homophobia has deep roots in Australia and it is a measure of the leadership’s calibre
that they were able to convince the members to take industrial action on this issue,
despite initial misgivings.
All Building unions led the fight for Aboriginal land rights and equal pay and
working conditions for indigenous Australians as well as the right for Aboriginals to
be listed as citizens and be awarded the right vote. Before then, in the national census,
Aboriginals were classed and counted along with domestic pets!
Building unions were at the forefront in the battle for an independent East Timor
and provided resources to help rebuild the country after it was largely destroyed
through civil war.
It has continuously supported the plight of the Cuban people who have been cut off
from supplies and progress as a result of the embargo placed on Cuba by the USA
government.
In more recent times, the CFMEU raised massive funds to support victims of the
Victorian Bushfires – here in WA a total of $630,772 was raised.
The union was able to involve itself in these kinds of issues because the leadership
had won the deep respect of the majority of members through its commitment to
improving their wages and conditions, and also by restoring their dignity as human
beings in a dog-eat-dog system that had once treated them as expendable slaves.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 13
CFMEU

The day one million went on strike
The 1970’s and 80’s saw a peak in the
number of industrial disputes,
arguably caused by decades of pent
up frustration at how workers and their
union were treated.
The use of ‘Penal Power’ goes
someway towards explaining why
militant action came to the forefront
during and after this period. Blue collar
workers had been deprived for years
from climbing the ladder of
opportunity by working for low wages
and enduring poor conditions. It was
time to catch up, and there was a hell of
lot of catching up to do.
‘Where there had been five
fines in 1950, they had
reached 454 in 1968.’
When the Federal Arbitration Court
was established by the Commonwealth
Government in 1904, it gave the court
the powers to impose heavy fines on
unions. These powers became known as
‘Penal Powers’.
In 1930 these provisions were
abolished following the Timber
Workers' strike in 1929 which lasted for
several months. During the strike there
were riots, violence and widespread
upheaval. The timber workers (now an
integral part of the CFMEU) went on
strike because the employers had cut
their wages and lengthened their
working hours. The workers were
defeated.
The Penal Powers provisions were reimposed
in the 1940’s. In 1949 there
was a general strike of miners which
lasted several weeks. The workers were
demanding a 35-hour week, long
service leave and an increase in wages.
The strike was crushed when the
Federal Labor Government sent armed
troops into the mines. Eight union
leaders were jailed and the union was
heavily fined.
Clarrie O’Shea – led Australia’s biggest
post war strike against unfair biased laws
Penal powers –
Union were
angry.
Workers were asking the question – When is the right time for workers to win
improvements in wages and conditions? It didn’t seem to matter what stage of the
economic cycle workers were in… from boom to bust and everything in between, it
was never the right time for workers to win improvements in wages and conditions.
During the 1940’s – 1960’s some unions were de-registered (ceased to be legally
recognised by the industrial relations courts) because their members were engaged in
struggles to protect or improve wages and conditions.
Break-away unions were set up with the help of employers. By the late 1960’s, the
employers were savagely using the Penal Powers against unions rather than negotiate
with unions. Where there had been five fines in 1950, they had reached 454 in 1968.
The workers were frustrated and angry because the employers were using Penal
Powers as a tactic to avoid negotiation. Workers saw the Arbitration Court as an antiunion,
anti-worker body.
When a union leader called Clarrie O'Shea, Secretary of the Victorian Tramway
Union, was jailed in 1969 because the union would not pay a fine imposed by the
Arbitration Court due to a strike by its members, all hell broke loose.
Up to ‘one million workers’ stopped work and joined in rallies across Australia. In
the face of this massive anger, the courts, the government and the employers retreated
and the use of Penal Powers against unions was discontinued. It was a powerful
example of how real change can happen when workers stand together.
Ironically, the biased persecution of unions under the old Penal Power laws is not
unlike what is happening in current times with the ABCC – Australian Building and
Construction Commission.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 15
CFMEU

NOT ALWAYS A LABOR OF LOVE
Often there have been times when it hasn’t been a choice between
supporting Labor or Liberal, it’s been a choice between right or wrong.
Norm Gallagher right with John Cummins: “A union
starts with organisation in the workplace, and it grows
by defending and improving working conditions.”
The ALP was started by workers
who needed a voice against
injustice and to represent their
interests. However political ambition
and power has somewhat taken over
principle in recent times.
It hasn’t always been a bed of roses
between unions and the Australian
Labor Party. Often there have been
times when it hasn’t been a choice
between supporting Labor or Liberal,
it’s been a choice between right or
wrong. As Kevin Reynolds, long time
BLF and now WA CFMEU C&G state
secretary has said many times, “You
can vote for whom you like but at the
end of the day we represent the
interests of the membership.”
Under the Hawke Labor government
the BLF went against a tide that it
thought to be anti-worker, it stood up
for the interests of its members and
paid the price, but the members have
never forgotten what the union did for
them.
Twenty-one years ago, a special
ACTU Congress near-unanimously
endorsed an "Accord" with the Federal
Labor government. It was in essence a
no-strike pledge. We are still living with
its effects.
“We’re going to smash
those bastards!”
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, real wages
were cut. Trade unionism ossified
around deal-making at the top, while at
the rank and file level, union coverage
fell. The ALP pushed the political
consensus to the right, delivering
electoral victory to the Liberals. The
unions have still not recovered the
momentum they lost under Labor.
The BLF was an exception to this
dismal pattern.
Most BL’s never intended to abide by
the ‘Accord’. Norm Gallagher of the BLF,
a champion of the working class,
remembered what many other unions
forgot: A union starts with organisation
in the workplace, and it grows by
defending and improving working
conditions.
In the mid 1980’s the BLF's national
membership peaked at around 55,000. It
fought many successful battles for wage
rises, shorter family-friendly hours and
improved safety. Gains that spread
across the entire industry.
This basic trade unionism was
anathema to the ALP-ACTU consensus.
In July 1985 Prime Minister Bob Hawke
allegedly stated to a Cabinet meeting
"We're going to smash those bastards.
We're going to deregister the BLF!”
Liberals like to scare us about Labor
governments controlled by “union
bosses”. Former Labor Prime Minister
Bob Hawke was a long-running
president of the Australian Council of
Trade Unions (ACTU). So how did
workers fare under this “union boss”?
The Hawke years (1983-1991) saw
workers real wages fall between 17%
and 28% and a shift from wages to
profits of over $400 billion.
Promises to repeal Liberal anti-union
laws were never acted upon, while
militant unions were attacked. Union
density fell from 50% to 40%.
The rot began in 1983 when Hawke
and the ACTU signed the Prices and
Incomes Accord.
Workers were told that the Accord
would increase workers' wages while it
reformed the economy.
In reality the Accord slashed wages
and working conditions and
transformed the union movement into
the enforcers of wage restraint. Union
militancy was hobbled; delegate
structures crumbled and union density
plummeted.
Unions who refused to abide by the
Accord and continued to fight for better
wages and conditions were attacked and
ultimately smashed. For example, the
Airline Pilot’s Union.
The Builders Labourers Federation
continued to take industrial action to
improve wages and conditions. These
actions placed both the Accord and the
Hawke Labor government under
pressure.
Labor and the bosses wanted to teach
the unions a lesson. So in April 1986 the
Federal, NSW and Victorian Labor
governments deregistered the BLF.
Interestingly, WA Premier Brian
Burke defied the Federal Labor
government and refused to deregister
the BLF in WA.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 17
CFMEU

THE BATTLE FOR THE
In the early 1990’s, inspired by the
Kennett Government in Victoria
and the extreme right wing HR
Nichols Society also based in Victoria,
the WA State Government led by
Richard Court and Graham Kierath
introduced the forerunner to John
Howard’s national Workchoices
program.
This new legislation which was all
about weakening trade unions,
strengthening employers, starving
union members of services and
financial clout was introduced in ‘three
waves’ known simply as the First,
Second and Third Waves.
Your union was one of the unions
leading the fight against these antiworker,
anti-union member laws. By the
time the Third Wave of these laws came
up to be legislated, emotions and tensions
were running high and there was an
explosion of discontent from unions,
workers and the community at large.
A legacy of this struggle was the
establishment of the Workers Embassy,
or what we know now as Solidarity
Park. ‘The Workers’ Embassy’ was first
established inside the grounds of
Parliament House on 29 April 1997 as
part of the campaign against the
draconian ‘Third Wave’ industrial
relations legislation introduced by the
Court State Government and its
Industrial Relations Minister, Graham
Kierath.
The ‘Third Wave’ public rally of 29
April 1997 attracted between 25,000
and 30,000 people and was believed to
be the largest public demonstration in
Western Australia’s industrial relations
history.
State Secretary of the Builder’s
Labourers Painters and Plasterers
Union (BLPPU) at that time, Kevin
Reynolds, tells the story of what
happened on the night of the rally.
Workers in the construction industry who weren’t
around in the 1990’s need to know this story.”
“The entire WA union movement had a demonstration of 30,000 people. We
placed a caravan on the lawns of Parliament House. On the first night the caravan
was there, occupied by officials of the Liquor Trades Union, there was no
confrontation, nothing happened. On the second night the caravan was staffed by
officials and members of the Builders Labourer’s Painters and Plasterers Union.
There was a raid conducted by dozens of police and officials and members of
the union were arrested. They were, Tony Kelly, Steve Evans, Peter Ballard and
Kim Young!!
At 1 o’clock in the morning I was contacted at home, got out of bed and bailed
them out of jail at East Perth. We went up to Parliament House at 3am and found
that the police had towed the caravan out onto the public road, Harvest Terrace.
I hooked the car up and advised the police we were going to tow it to Coolbellup.
However, we decided to tow it into a public car park across the road from
Parliament House. When we took it up into the car park we pulled it on to some
vacant land adjacent to the car park. From there we put the call out at 5am to
members and advised them what had happened concerning the arrests. By 8 o’clock
that morning we had hundreds of building workers and other unionist’s there
protesting the arrest of the four individuals and we made a pact amongst ourselves
that we weren’t going to be moved, we were going to stay!
We were threatened with all sorts of dastardly deeds and were told we were
trespassing. As it turned out we were on crown land and we stayed for 6 months and
built what is now ‘The Workers Embassy’ with the full support of all other unions.
The ‘Embassy’ was guarded and staffed 24 hours around the clock, in shifts by all
unions and other volunteers. It was probably, in my view, the most unifying
experience I’ve ever seen in terms of bringing the unions and workers together. We
had barbeques every night, we had the workers embassy ball, we had all those sorts
of things, and it was terrific. We had the official hand over at 6 o’clock every night
from one group of unionists to another, and they would formally hand over the
barbeque tongs and away we’d go. So it was a great period.” Kevin Reynolds
Page 18 Construction Worker – Winter 2010

‘WORKERS EMBASSY’
After the protest ended, the trade
union movement left behind a beautiful
park with permanent shelters,
barbeques and monuments dedicated
to Mark Allen and all workers who have
died as a result of their work. (Mark
Allen was a young CFMEU Works
Organiser who was killed on a building
site attempting to get workers off an
unsafe roof.)
On April 28th each year, ‘The
International Day of Mourning’
ceremony is held at Solidarity Park to
honour all workers killed or injured in
the course of their job. The first
structure installed was the Mark Allen
Memorial which members of the
Builders Labourers, Painters and
Plasterers Union (BLPPU) and the
Construction, Forestry, Mining and
Energy Union (CFMEU) first built in
early June . The ‘Triple Eight’ symbol on
top of the Mark Allen Memorial is an
historic labour symbol representing
eight hours work, eight hours rest and
eight hours play.
The Liberal Government tried to
have it bulldozed but failed. It was a
credit to the Gallop Labor Government
for eventually classifying it as an
historical site. Solidarity Park is now
used by a large range of community
groups and has become a permanent
feature of the Perth landscape.
Memorial dedicated to Mark Allen
The Victory crew at
Solidarity Park
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 19
CFMEU

A history of fighting for safety
Stonemasons died of silicosis,
many before they turned forty.
Plasterers had their lungs dusted.
Painters were poisoned with lead. In the
1920’s an average of 29 painters a year
were dying in Australia of lead
poisoning.
By working outdoors in all weathers,
labourers suffered pleurisy and
pneumonia, rheumatics and arthritis.
Cuts turned septic. Before antibiotics,
puncture wounds could prove fatal, as
happened to a worker on the Harbour
Bridge, who died of tetanus after
crushing his thumb.
Scaffolders fell out of the sky to their
deaths before harnessing regulations
were put in place. Carpenters didn’t
escape dangers either until 2007, when
cupboards and fittings made out of
Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF)
impregnated with formaldehyde, were
banned because of union action.
Profit-takers concealed the hazards.
When the harm could no longer be
hidden, the employers muddied the
nature and extent of the problem. James
Hardies’ behaviour over asbestos
reproduced the spin perfected by the
tobacco corporates. Your union took on
the giant Hardies’ machine and won,
but financial compensation can never
replace the loss of a loved one.
For every labourer killed on site,
many more die from work-related
diseases. Australia collects no data
beyond compensation statistics, which
“seriously underestimate” the “true
extent” of non-traumatic harms.
The skyline of every major Australian
city is now dominated by huge
skyscrapers. Yet what most people don't
realise is that many of those skyscrapers
are literally tombstones that have cost
the lives of hundreds of building
workers over the years.
In the construction industry
workplace safety is literally a life and
death question.
Workplace deaths due to unsafe
practices can happen everywhere from
small suburban projects to major
regional infrastructure projects as well
as city skyscrapers and in factories and
yards.
These peak figures on deaths and
injury show the dangers building
workers face. ‘From 1989 to 1993, 250
workers were killed on construction
sites across Australia.’ That number was
12 per cent of all workplace fatalities,
although the industry employed only 5
per cent of the labour force!
The BLF was one of the first
unions in Australia to dedicate
personnel and resources
exclusively for work place safety.
To this day an average of one
construction workers dies in Australia
each week, in any one year more
construction workers die in their line of
work than soldiers or police on duty.
Workers who are killed or injured,
just doing their job, are remembered
each year on April 28th. ‘The
International Day Of Mourning’ or
‘Workers Memorial Day’ as it also
James Hardie – Asbestos as safe as houses!
There was no
safety when
working at
heights
known, is a day when workers gather
with victim’s families to honour those
who have gone off to work to never
return home.
It’s not good enough! But it would be
more if it wasn't for the vigilance of the
union to monitor and improve safety
conditions. The BLF was one of the first
unions in Australia to dedicate
personnel and resources exclusively for
work place safety and this has
continued to be a priority in today’s
CFMEU.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 21
CFMEU

'If pickets were
put on the job
I would run
them over with
a truck.'
Old time builder’s workers died from lead poisoning and simple cuts and punctures.
Unfortunately, most improvements in building site safety have been won
against the strenuous opposition of employers. For example when the
dangerous practice of ‘overhand brickwork’ was banned by bricklayers, a
representative of Meriton's, a building company said ‘if pickets were put on
the job I would run them over with a truck.' Even the introduction of
compulsory safety helmets in the 1950’s was opposed by employers.
Governments as well have very patchy records. Building unions first called
for the appointment of a Scaffolding Inspector in Sydney in 1886 following a
series of accidents. But it took the Government a further six years, and many
more accidents, before they got round to appointing one.
One of the criticisms of the Cole Royal Commission was that CFMEU
Officials used safety concerns as a pretext for entering building sites and
threatening industrial action.
As a result, the Federal Governments of Howard’s Liberals, and then
Rudd’s Labor Party addressed that false pretext 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
legislation restricting right of entry and worker’s action with the advent of the
Australian Building and Construction Commission, deaths in the
construction industry increased. That being said, if it wasn’t for the CFMEU
and its forbearers being constantly vigilant, even at times in the face of
draconian laws, bad employers and government victimisation there would be
an even greater number of fatalities.
The CFMEU and its forbearers have never made any apology for its
rigorous attitude towards safety. We've been to too many funerals.
Skyscrapers changed the course of safety – Employers
even protested against the introduction of hard hats
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 23
CFMEU

Hey Dad, look what boss gave me!
Marching for 4 weeks annual leave and leave loading in 1974
Old hands out there on jobs hear it
all the time. Young workers in the
industry who think; “WOW, what
a great boss or company to give me
these top wages and benefits!”
If they really believe that, then they
must still leave carrots and a glass of
milk next to the chimney on Christmas
Eve for Santa and his reindeer.
There has been nearly 175 years of
sacrifice to achieve what workers have
today.
Unionists and members have
marched, rallied, died and gone to jail
fighting for the rights of workers.
All young workers need to know
today the value of the union and the
role it has played in enabling them to
have far better wages and conditions
than their forefathers.
The struggle and fight to win the
wages and conditions workers have
today and the need to fight for them in
the future should never be taken for
granted.
As an exercise all young construction
workers should look at their next pay
packet. Now, take out any money you
earned from working overtime, take out
any penalty rates, site or travel
allowances, clothing allowances, tool
allowances, living away from home
allowances, etc. Chuck out any
payments for superannuation, long
service or redundancy. How much did
you earn?
Now imagine you never got any wage
rises the union has won over the years
through arbitration or negotiating
EBA’s.
Have you ever had time off work
through injury? If so, imagine you
didn’t get any income during your
recovery period or a lump sum payout
as a result of your accident. Ever been
sick? Who do you think fought for the
right for workers to get paid sick leave?
Planning a 4 week holiday? Think
about only getting one week a year –
and forget about any annual leave
loading. Your union fought from 1941
to 1973 to get 4 weeks annual leave and
won the fight for leave loading too!
Got the picture yet?
Without unions most workers would
have NOTHING that they have today.
Everything workers have today was
fought for and won by unions and their
members.
Have you ever seen a picture of
employers cracking open bottles of
champagne after awarding their
workers a pay rise? Governments also
hardly give anything – if they do, it’s
only to give with one hand and take it
back with the other.
Membership in your union and the
courage to stand up to fight for your
rights and the rights of your mates,
whenever they’re under attack is as
important today as it ever was.
In the words of John Cummins,
deceased CFMEU legend: ‘If you don’t
fight, you lose. Be union proud.’
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 25
CFMEU

HOW THE WEST WAS
The 70’s 80’s and 90’s were tumultuous years for the union movement. The BLF and associated building unions
making up today’s CFMEU WA fought numerous battles nationally to improve wages and conditions for workers.
Here is a timeline of just a few of the events and disputes during that period in Western Australia.
Kevin Reynolds,
in the centre, on
the march early
70’s
1977: Big fight brews over a $39.20 a week wage rise – WA
building workers are the lowest paid in Australia –
WA Government seeks to deregister union.
1977: Workers walk off Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre
over Inclement Weather clause as temperature soars to
40 degrees Celsius. Employers want workers to sit in
the shade – no pay if they leave the site.
1974: Strike in support of federal award
1974: 4 weeks annual leave awarded to all building workers
– the Employers Federation said the cost would put
the price of houses out of reach of the average worker.
1974: 30,000 BLF members go on a national strike for a $6 a
week pay rise
1974: Development of the Grove shopping centre site closed.
Liberal Minister for Labour, Mr. Bill Grayden declares
it’s the most unsafe site ever seen.
1974: CBH site – a strike over a $12 a week pay rise above
the award. Company hires scabs who are turned away
by picket line.
BLF deregistered in
Victoria. WA stays
strong in support.
6 week long strike
and picket at the
Perth Medical
Centre 1977
1978: SGIO Insurance sees a big rise in the number of claims
by workers involved in asbestos industries – the time
bomb is starting to go off.
1978: 5,000 march in protest over WA State Government
moves to reduce Workers Compensation payouts.
There were cheers from the crowd when someone
hoisted a Eureka flag up the flag pole at Parliament
House.
1979: State Government committee rejects idea of portable
Long Service Leave in the building industry – a battle
finally won by your union.
1977: BLF deregistered over a series of industrial disputes –
companies in Sydney employ armed guards to protect
building sites and told to shoot on site.
1977: Builders’ Labourers walk off during concrete pour at
the New Cannington Greyhounds site in support of a
$26 a week wage increase as part of bringing WA into
line with a National Building Award.
1977: 80 workers strike at Garden Island Naval Base to
increase daily travel allowance by $2 to $9.
1977: Union members go on a 6 week long strike and picket
at the Perth Medical Centre after a delegate was
sacked for raising problems with safety on the site.
WA leads the charge as
the battle for portable
Long Service Leave
goes Australia wide.
Workers here lead the
way in Queensland.
Wages and
conditions of
building
workers start to
improve
Page 26 Construction Worker – Winter 2010

WON...
1979: Builder’s Labourers march on the MBA headquarters
in West Perth as part of national wage campaign – WA
workers were earning $16 a week less than those in the
Eastern States.
Workers
protest
outside the
MBA
headquarters
in West Perth
1979
1979: Workers at the new Law Courts go on strike to
support 11 men who were sacked for refusing to work
overtime. The workers were all reinstated.
1979: Workers walk off the Perth Districts Court project
after employers withdraw from industrial relations
pact.
1979: Wanneroo Hospital strike over employment of nonunion
labour. Scabs and police clash with picket line.
1981: Secretaries of all building and trades unions call for a
stoppage in support of a shorter working week.
1981: Construction workers on the North West Shelf get
$150 a week extra on current overtime worked. Most
workers work 60 hours a week.
1981: Work ban placed on new Alexander Library project in
support of a campaign for portable Long Service Leave.
1982: Action to lift wages for scaffolders begins. Eastern
States scaffolders are paid $90 a week more than those
in WA.
1982: WA Trades and Labour Council rejects a move to
disassociate itself from the BLF
1982: A witch hunt of the union sees Federal BLF Secretary
Norm Gallagher go to jail for contempt of court. 1,000
WA Builders Labourers walk off jobs in protest over
the decision.
1982: BLF appoints first Union Organiser for the South
West – it’s discovered local contractors are under
paying staff by up to $100 a week.
1982: BLF supports the Sanitation Workers for the Perth
City Council. The Garbo strike became one of the
worst and nastiest in WA history.
Reynolds era rings the changes
1982: ‘NO Ticket NO Start’ closed shop policy finds favour
with Royal Commissioner Mr. Winnkeke as a major
step towards industrial harmony on building sites.
1982: 2,000 workers at Worsley Aluminium Refinery go on
strike after a colleague dies instantly when the side of
a trench in which he was working collapsed. Union
ensures new safety procedures to make sure it doesn’t
ever a happen again.
1983: 36-hour, 9-day fortnight comes into effect on
Multiplex sites after government campaign to try and
stop it.
1983: BLF leads moves on asbestos – Kevin Reynolds, State
Secretary, issues bans on the use of asbestos at
Hollywood Hospital and the Maylands Police
Academy. Perth’s new Airport Terminal is prevented
from installing 600 tonnes of asbestos cement pipes
for drinking water!
1984: The Australian Workers Union moves to seek deregistration
of the BLF. Norm Gallagher, Federal
Secretary of the BLF, says it confirms the AWU is
really an ‘Employers’ organisation.
1984: WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry rejects idea
for Federal Superannuation Scheme for building
workers – they say unions will get hold of the money
and use it to buy control of companies and put ‘ their
own’ people onto company boards!
1990: BLF signs productivity agreement with Multiplex.
Workers on the Dayton Plaza, Westralia Square and
Central Park projects will get an extra $100 for every
floor completed during a six day working cycle.
1992: BLF puts the need for jobs for its members ahead of the
need to support the CMEU and supports Multiplex
redevelopment of the Old Swan Brewery site
1993: Through a series of mergers CFMEU becomes one
BIG union.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 27
CFMEU

The skills training centre revolution
As the techniques and skills of the
construction industry worker has
changed considerably over the
last 30 to 40 years, the union has kept
pace by ensuring workers had the
chance to learn new skills and up-skill
existing ones to reflect changing needs
and demands in the marketplace.
There are not many unions who can
claim to have directly created thousands
of job opportunities for its members. In
1992 the then BLF in WA registered the
CSTC (Construction Skills Training
Centre) as a training organisation to
provide much needed industry training.
Until then it was a barren landscape for
building and construction workers to
get the training they needed and the
skills companies demanded.
Kevin Reynolds, WA State Secretary
of the BLF, had seen the concept of a
union training centre on a trip to
Canada. He discovered how unions
were not only looking to protect jobs,
wages and conditions but were also
using training centres to create jobs and
in turn provide a ready made workforce
for the building and construction
industry.
Initially the CSTC did not have a
headquarters of its own and they
provided training courses in a couple of
rented classrooms at the back of the
union’s old office. While other, more
complex courses were contracted out to
private providers.
All that changed in 1998 when the
CFMEU WA purchased a 5 acre site in
Welshpool where the CSTC stands now.
It was a proud moment for the union
and its members. Everyone pitched in
to get it off the ground. The Union’s
officials, its members and other
volunteers all came to the centre and
contributed work in their various trades
to help renovate and build the centre.
It was a substantial investment by the
Union at a cost of 1.5 million dollars.
If you build it they will come.
Surveying the then new site of CSTC before commencing works to make it Australia’s finest
construction training centre.
A $1 million dollar grant from the ANTA (Australian National Training Authority)
also helped to establish the training centre with new equipment. It is the only major
construction training centre in Australia with its own tower crane on site. The centre
has has 10 lecture/classrooms for course theory.
An attitude was forged to only employ quality trainers with ‘real world’ experience
in the construction industry. As a result it wasn’t long before the CSTC became
considered by industry and enrollee’s as the best construction skills training centre of
its type in Australia. The CSTC now provides more than 45 industry related courses
and, on average, 5,000 people per year have trained at the centre since it opened.
Since outset, the attitude towards the cost of enrolling in a course has always been
to make them affordable and accessible to the working class. The focus has been on
people not profit. Many trainees pay heavily discounted fees or no fees at all thanks to
rebates from the CFMEU WA and the Building and Construction Industry Training
Fund.
The CSTC was the culmination of a brilliant vision by the leadership of the Union.
Without it, thousands of Union members and workers would never have had the skills
to provided them with numerous job opportunities.
Kevin Reynolds left, gets stuck into building the CSTC watched by Colin Squires
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 29
CFMEU

M AY D AY
with Kevin Reynolds
THE TRUE MEANING OF MAY DAY
We had a tremendous turnout for
this year’s annual May Day march
and picnic in Fremantle. Once
again the CFMEU had the
biggest single Union presence on
the day.
I’m proud of the way our members
looked ‘the goods’ as they marched
in their special CFMEU May Day T-
shirts which were a huge hit.
So too were the special shirts we
produced for our ‘CFMEU Kids’
which read “Good wages and
conditions equals great pocket
money!” And when you think about
it, that slogan sums up the true
essence and meaning of what May
Day is all about.
It’s both a day of celebration and
remembrance. There have been
many battles over 160 years by
unions and their members to win
the wages and working conditions
we all enjoy today. Along the way,
unionists have been killed, jailed
and persecuted for standing up for
workers rights.
May Day originated during the
1880’s as unions around the world
united in the struggle to obtain an
8-hour work day for all. Following a
long and sometimes violent
struggle, May 1st was officially
recognised as a day of
demonstration in 1893.
Australia’s May Day activities
officially began in 1890, although
some workers had achieved the
eight hour day as early as 1856,
when the Stonemason’s in Victoria
downed tools in protest to win the 8
hour day. The ‘stoney’s’ as they
were called went on to become a
part of today’s CFMEU.
As more and more workers won the
reduction in hours by solidarity and
industrial action, the day was
proclaimed as a holiday in all the
States and became known as
Labour Day.
Getting back to the day itself, it was
pleasing to see so many families
enjoying themselves, sitting back
and catching up with friends and
workmates.
I would personally like to thank all
those from our office and the CSTC
who volunteered to help setting up
our area and facilities for the day.
This year I also had the pleasure of
going to Brisbane to participate in
their May Day festivities which are
held on their actual Labour Day
holiday. It has to be said that they
put on a great show with over
20,000 people taking part and that
the city itself embraces the march
as a great annual spectacle –
perhaps if all other WA unions here
had the same passion and
commitment as CFMEU members
to turn up to our May Day, it would
rival Brisbane’s effort.
Let’s hope so in the future.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 31
CFMEU

MayDay’10

Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 33
CFMEU

E D I T O R I A L C O M M E N T
ARK TRIBE: Making a stand for justice.
“Ark Tribe is a good and decent
man with principles and guts.”
A bloke just like you goes to work.
A safety meeting is called. Safety on
the site is pretty awful with concerns
all round. It’s so atrocious that
WorkSafe SA eventually closes
down the site. In the process, a
safety meeting was held on site
amongst the workers with their
Union. After the meeting a bloke
called Ark Tribe is singled out to tell
all that was discussed at that
meeting. He refuses. He takes the
view that it’s none of the business of
the ABCC (Australian Building and
Construction Commission). After all,
the ABCC doesn’t investigate
unsafe sites. That’s WorkSafe’s job –
and they said it was bad enough to
close the site down.
So, what happens? Ark Tribe gets
called up to explain what went on!
Because he refused to say what
was discussed at the Union safety
meeting he is charged with an
offence. He has been to court
several times and on June 15th he
enters court for a period of 3 days to
face prosecution which could see
him locked up in jail for 6 months.
Ark Tribe is a good and decent man
with principles and guts.
Ark Tribe a
victim of Rudd
and Gillard’s
decision to
renege on
abolishing the
ABCC –
another reason
they are down
in the polls!
Think about that! 6 months jail for
not telling what went on at a union
meeting – in this particular case,
one about safety!
These are the laws that construction
worker’s live under. It has to stop
now.
Unfortunately, it is only our actions
collectively, as individuals within a
union, that can bring about change.
The general public is not aware of
the draconian laws construction
workers have to live under. If they
were made aware, a majority of
decent folk would shout from the
roof tops that this is not on, that it’s
un-Australian. This is not the kind of
Australia that our forefathers fought
for.
John Howard and Tony Abbott set
these laws in motion to give some
sort of twisted credence for having
the Cole Royal Commission. A
Commission that found nothing to
hang on building Unions after
spending $66 million of taxpayer’s
money.
Rudd said he saw the injustice and
that he would remove them. He’s
done nothing. But, as the electorate
is finding out, Rudd is all vision,
with no focus.
We are more than the ABCC, we are
more than any political party, we are
more than a pawn in their game. We
are UNION, and everything that it
collectively means. If it’s to mean
anything, we need to put support
before self and back Ark Tribe in his
battle.
Let’s be prepared to send this
message: When injustice becomes
law, defiance becomes our duty.
Ark already has.
IMPORTANT: See Ark Tribe’s story on ‘You Tube.’ Type this address in your browser.
http://www.youtube.com/user/RightsonSite or visit the ‘campaigns’ section
of our website at www.cfmeuwa.com
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 35
CFMEU

M E M B E R B E N E F I T S
with Kevin Reynolds
Ambulance Benefit: saving members lives.
A research study conducted by the National Heart Foundation, which surveyed 3176 Australians aged between 35-65
years of age, showed that at least one in 10 people would delay calling ‘000’ believing that the trip would be too
expensive. On the grim side, there are 46,000 deaths due to heart attacks each year in Australia with at least 50% never
making it to the hospital.
CFMEU members don’t have this fear. All current financial members have FREE ambulance cover – for members and their
immediate family – including $10,000 air ambulance cover, which I know gives great peace of mind to families of our
members who work in remote locations.
Ambulance Cover is available to all financial members whether they are on an EBA or not.
A trip to hospital in an Ambulance can cost around $750-$800. So it pays to be financial. It could save your life or the life
of a family member.
IMPORTANT: don’t put off calling an ambulance
especially if you think you could be having
symptoms of a stroke or heart attack. Call if are
having all or even some of these symptoms.
HEART ATTACK
Symptoms include:
1. Pressure or tightness
in the chest
2. Back pain between
the shoulder blades
3. Feeling of
indigestion
4. Aching or discomfort
in arms, neck or jaw
5. Nausea or vomiting
6. Shortness of breath
7. Profuse sweating
8. Weakness
9. Dizziness
10. Feeling faint
STROKE
Symptoms include:
1. Sudden headache from hell for no
obvious reason
2. Sudden dizziness or unsteadiness
including unexplained loss of
balance
3. Sudden unexplained falls
4. Sudden uncharacteristic confusion
5. Sudden loss of speech
6. Sudden difficulty talking or making
sense of normal conversation
7. Sudden dimness or loss of vision,
usually in one eye
8. Difficulty recognizing familiar
objects/faces etc
9. Sudden weakness (as if gravity
had increased) on one side of the
body affecting any of the leg, arm
or facial/mouth/tongue muscles
10. Numbness and or drooping of one
side of the face
11. Sudden inability to swallow
12. Sudden acute memory loss
THANK
YOU
CFMEU!
My name is Chris
O’Brien and I am
a CFMEU member.
I have a 15 year old son, Joel.
Joel has cerebral palsy and epilepsy and
constantly suffers from seizures as a
result. Unfortunately, Joel has needed
emergency medical attention on
numerous occasions in his life. Nothing
reassures me more than, if I need to ring
for an ambulance, I can do so without
hesitation. My focus can remain on Joel
because I know the Union will take care
of the ambulance bill.
I’ve got plenty of friends outside the
construction industry who don’t have this
benefit. Through conversations with these
friends it is extraordinary how many
will hesitate to ring an ambulance (if
they ring at all) for fear of the bill they
know they will get. As a parent, I am
eternally grateful for this benefit. When a
family member’s life is at risk the last
thing I want to be thinking about is an
ambulance bill.
Join the CFMEU now – make sure
you are paid up to be eligible for
our Ambulance Benefit.
Unsure? Call our office 9221 1055
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 37
CFMEU

S A F E T Y N E W S
with Mick Buchan
Union could save lives and millions
Mines Minister Norman Moore says
a new safety regime for the industry
will be funded by a series of new
levies, fees and charges to be paid
by the mining industry.
Speaking after the Chamber of
Minerals and Energy Annual
Meeting Mr Moore said the
Government was well on its way to
introducing a system that would
help prevent tragedies such as
the death at BHP Billiton's
Perseverance Mine worker Wayne
Ross, 45, of Koondoola, who was
killed after the bogger he was
driving at the Nickel West mine fell
25m. The accident was the latest in
a string of mining safety incidents in
WA, including two non-fatal rock
falls last year at the same mine,
370km north of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.
There have also been five deaths at
other BHP Billiton WA sites since
July 2008.
Mr Moore said close to $8 million
would be raised this year, with
companies required to pay levies
according to the number of workers
employed. A further $35 million is
expected next year.
Mining companies would be
charged $200 to $250 per worker
under the levy scheme.
"I realise new financial impositions
are seldom popular," Mr Moore said
in a statement. "But this is the only
way to ensure suitably funded
regulation. The ultimate cost of not
improving safety is much higher."
Mr Moore said the reforms were
designed to introduce a more "riskbased
approach" in place of
prescriptive rules and regulations.
"They will reinforce that the onus is
on operators to demonstrate an
understanding of the hazards and
risks of their workplace," he said.
The Resources Safety Division of
the Department of Mines and
Petroleum will implement the
changes. A Ministerial Advisory
Panel has also been established to
monitor the changes.
The number of Mine Safety
Inspectors will also almost double.
LET UNIONS DO THEIR JOB
What Norman Moore fails to
recognise is the important role
unions can have in improving safety.
It’s a well documented fact that
unionised sites are 3 times safer
You won’t find
the answers
up there
Mr. Moore!
than non-union sites. Restricted
union access to sites severely limits
the ability of unions to monitor and
audit safety conditions. Why spend
millions of dollars for new Safety
Inspectors when you already have
them in the form of Union
Organisers? It also has to be
said that under the regime of
the Australian Building and
Construction Commission, deaths
have vastly increased. Many
workers are afraid to speak up or
appear to be active in ‘causing
trouble’ in the company’s eyes for
fear of being prosecuted by the
ABCC or black banned. If unions
are allowed to do their job more
lives will be saved.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 39
CFMEU

O R G A N I S E R N E W S
New recruits for the frontline
The CFMEU has recently taken on 3 new recruits through the
ACTU’s ‘Organising Works Program’. These young trainee
Organisers are part of the future lifeblood of the union movement.
Here in their own words is something of what they have
experienced so far in the real, everyday world of being a Union
Organiser.
HOANI DENNISON
“I am now 3 months into my
organising works program and
being a part of the CFMEU. I've
been working in the southern
suburbs with Paul Ferreira and in
the south west with Troy Smart. It’s
been a big learning curve coming
into a new industry. I've had my first
encounters with the dropkicks of the
CCI and look forward to my first
confrontation with those dogs from
the ABCC. I've been receiving
plenty of support from our
members, even the ones who have
given me a spray or two. It all
contributes to making me a stronger
Organiser. It’s been sad to see the
heartless attitude of some
companies towards their workers.
Their use of unfair laws to intimidate
workers and put them in harms way
for the sake of profit and cost
cutting. I wanted to be a part of the
fight for workers rights and receiving
my education and training from the
CFMEU is giving me my best
fighting chance.”
OLIVER GODWIN
“G’day everyone, I’m Oliver Godwin,
one of three trainee Organisers with
the CFMEU.
The program that we’re in is a 9-
month certificate IV Traineeship
coordinated by Unions WA.
This program is run in the other
states, and in Perth involves
trainees from the AWU, CPSU, MUA
and others.
We go to ‘school’ every month, and
unlike my school experience this is
quite interesting. The classes outline
the things that the other
experienced Organisers do
naturally, although they are more
focused on yards/offices/factories
rather than construction sites. It’s
also been great to get together with
other Unions and listen to their
stories, and they reinforce my view
that the CFMEU is by far the best.
It is a privilege to be an Organiser for
the CFMEU and I hope to see all of
you around in the future.”
ROBERT
PEARSON
“Earlier this
year I was lucky enough to secure a
position in the ‘Organising Work
Program’. This program is an
incentive run by the ACTU to recruit
and train more young organisers to
the ranks of Unions and the trade
union movement.
Fortunately enough I was also able
to be picked up by the CFMEU.
As an Organiser with the CFMEU my
average day can cover a very wide
range of work matters and
problems, from dealing with sites
with power outages first thing in the
morning to sites contaminated with
asbestos, to problems with wages
and allowances. I cannot believe
some of the site conditions that
these companies expect people to
work in.
Conditions we come across that
people are expected to work in are
deplorable. I can’t believe that in
2010 we are still fighting to have
some of the most basic OH&S laws
abided to and that such basic pay
allowances like superannuation and
correct overtime rates are still not
paid correctly.
I do however commend the sites
where OH&S procedures are being
followed, workers feel safe and are
treated fairly and equally and I hope
that one day all sites could become
like these.”
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 41
CFMEU

WORKERS MEMORIAL DAY
with Mick Buchan
Bad laws cost lives
We had a good turn out on the 28th
April International Commemoration
Day for dead and injured workers.
Thanks to all that attended the
service both at Solidarity Park and
the Perth Bell Tower. The foreshore
bells rang 21 times for each worker
who has died in WA since January
2009. The theme across the country
was ‘Bad Laws Cost Lives’. Since
the ABCC started in 2005 we have
seen a massive increase in deaths
and serious injuries in our industry.
The stats tell us that these
construction industry laws and the
ABCC are contributing to the life of
one worker being lost every week.
Limitations on Union Organisers
have made safety worse. The
Federal Government Insulation
Program has shown the importance
of supervision with the 4 tragic
deaths and countless near misses it
has caused. It’s a common situation
for our Organisers to turn up to a
site and with no supervision present
or with first aid facilities that are not
adequate, missing or locked up.
The Rudd Government is continuing
to ignore the warning signs and is
reducing workers’ rights through the
so called ‘Harmonisation’ of the
country’s safety laws.
Research shows us again and again
when there is a strong union
presence on site with active union
members, safety is better, injury is
reduced, morale is positive and
workers are not being ripped off.
Kevin Reynolds
lays a wreath at
Solidarity Park in
honour of those
workers who
went to work
and will never
come home.
N E W A R R I VA L S
Meet Peter Joshua – Organiser
The CFMEU has welcomed the arrival of Peter Joshua as a new full
time organiser.
Peter brings some young blood to the union ranks and is all fired up to
make sure members are strongly represented out there in the
workplace. Prior to joining us he was a scaffolder around town for the
likes of Blackadder, Crown, CASC and Hi-Rise for 7 years. So he has
a real understanding of what life is like at the construction coal face.
Peter is married with 2 young kids and his interests include surfing (that’s on waves not the web).
He also completed a union delegates course last year.
Peter is currently working in the CBD and can be contacted on 0433 410 596.
Hayley Fryer – Membership Officer
Emma Griffiths (nee Vawser) has left us to go on maternity leave and her position will be taken
up by Hayley Fryer. Hayley has worked at the office part time over the past couple of years and
is a perfect fit to come in and carry on Emma’s great work.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 43
CFMEU

SIGTUR CONGRESS REPORT
with Vinnie Molina
The SIGTUR Delegation
An 18-strong ACTU delegation
attended the IX Southern Initiative
on Globalisation and Trade Union
Rights, SIGTUR in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
From 18-23 April Vinnie Molina,
Graham White and Frank Baker
(Mining Division) formed part of the
CFMEU delegation that represented
the Union at the international
gathering.
Over 25 countries from Latin
America and the Asia Pacific region
debated issues concerning workers
in the global South.
Delegates to the Congress shared
their experiences on the struggles of
the working class in countries
across four continents. In many
countries workers and their Unions
are under attack, for which
messages of solidarity were sent by
those in attendance. Delegates also
had the opportunity to discuss the
consequences of the global
financial crisis which affected
workers while banks were bailed out
by pro-capitalist governments.
Expressions of solidarity were sent
to Australian construction workers
who are still under attack by the
Australian Building and
Construction Commission. These
linkages across the global South are
essential for the development of
working class solidarity in defence
of human and labour rights.
We take this opportunity to send a
solidarity message to the Nestle
workers in the Philippines who have
stood tall at the picket line for six
consecutive years demanding the
reinstatement of the Union
leadership. We also called for the
freedom of all political prisoners
whose only crime has been to
defend labor and human rights.
We condemn also the recent
execution of five Iranian Trade
Unionists by the dictatorship ruling
that country on 9th May 2010.
For more information please visit:
www.sigtur.com
C I T Y R O U N D U P
with Aaron Mackrell and Peter Joshua
Raine Square still up in the air.
As this edition goes to print we are
still awaiting the outcome of what is
to happen with the Raine Square
Project. We hope the job starts back
up with an EBA builder and those
who were forced to walk out get to
walk back in.
GFWA and Murphy’s Demolition
continue their work down at
Diploma’s Queens Riverside and
have now been joined by
Innerstrength Steelfixers and Kore
Contracting who have picked up the
formwork package. Other Diploma
projects include Eleven 78 in West
Perth with Di Trento Demolition
doing the earthworks and the Zenith
Apartments in Murray Street with
the ceiling fixers from Northline
Ceilings employing seven
apprentices which is great for the
industry.
Around the traps we’ve got Cooper
and Oxley’s Central TAFE project
continuing with DJS Scaffolding and
Statewide Ceilings on site. Arccon
are working on the first stage of the
new Police Complex with Murphy’s
doing the earthworks. At this stage
it is not known who will continue the
job. Other Arccon projects include
the nearly completed Sunday Times
Office and apartments up on
Malcolm Street with Global installing
the windows and Vercon laying the
tiles. Down at BGC’s Perth Arena
we’re seeing the Perth Rigging crew
kicking goals erecting the steel
which Buckridge seems to think is
too big!
We know that the city EBA work is
drying up but that is no reason to
not remain financial with the union.
We’ve only got to where we are by
staying strong and united!
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 45
CFMEU

I N T E R N AT I O N A L N E W S
with Vinnie Molina
A letter from Lily
On my recent visit to South America I stopped by Bogota,
Colombia to deliver a message of solidarity to Colombian political
prisoner Liliany Obando.
The CFMEU has waged an active campaign for the release of
Liliany Obando who visited Australia in September 2007. At that
time she visited some of the construction sites in Perth where she
delivered reports on the abuses of human and trade union rights
in her country.
Colombia is considered by far the most dangerous country for
trade union work. There are more than 7,200 political prisoners.
Liliany Obando is one of them. A trade union representative from
FENSUAGRO, the Rural Workers Federation, she is facing 20
years on trumped up charges of rebellion and raising funds for
a terrorist organisation.
Liliany was detained on 8th August 2008 and has had her
application for home detention, to look after her young
children, refused 8 times by the prosecution. Her children are
in the care of their grandmother in Bogota and I witnessed first
hand the level of trauma they live under from constant
harassment and constant surveillance.
Despite all of this they try to live a normal life. Her young son Camilo plays
soccer and listens to music like any other normal kid his age, and 6 year old Laura is learning to play the
guitar to make her “mum happy when she gets out of jail”.
Visiting day at the prison is a stressful exercise for relatives and friends. People start queuing at midnight in
order to get into the prison just after it opens at 8am, so they can spend more time with the inmates. I arrived
early and managed to get into the political prisoners section by 10am, after passing a number of stressful
check points where security guards submit visitors to all sort of questioning and searches.
The end result is rewarding. Liliany was happy to receive a visit from so far away and the message of
solidarity delivered from our Union. I returned home with a letter she wrote to Kevin Reynolds to pass her
message of gratitude and solidarity to all CFMEU members for the struggles to come.
For more information visit: www.freeliliany.net
Liliany on a visit to the CFMEU
in Perth with Joe McDonald.
Our support helps to give her
the strength to carry on.
Send you support.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 47
CFMEU

EASTERN SUBURBS REPORT
with Oliver Godwin.
Workers better off under new EBA
CIP recently signed an EBA with us
and all the labour on that site is
unionised – the boys on the site are
now $200 per week better off as a
result.
Tower 5 in Burswood is nearly
finished and looking good, as is the
Detroit Diesel warehouse in
Hazelmere. The Toll-Ipec site next
door to Detroit Diesel is proceeding
full steam ahead, with ACG doing
the earthworks and Mijo Sarich
doing the granno work.
Aside from that, work has been
pretty quiet out here. The pre-cast
yards have been going slowly as of
late, although that should pick up
with Perth Precast picking up a
large amount of work for Barrow
Island, and Paragon having a few
hundred panels to do around the
traps. Rudd’s School Stimulus
Package has also been helpful on a
few of the smaller jobs, with Arccon
picking up some 20-odd schools in
the area.
There are still some scabby jobs out
there – one builder (who shall remain
nameless) didn’t think he needed to
provide amenities such as crib hut,
fridge, microwave, site power or
even a fence around the job.
Needless to say we rectified that
fairly quickly. In that large storm we
had a few weeks back the steelwork
for the Metcash extension
collapsed, but luckily that occurred
after hours and a safety plan was
put in place to get things up to
speed again.
We’re still having a few hiccups with
builders who don’t think it’s
necessary to provide the basics like
drinking water and toilets on site. If
you‘ve got problems like this we can
fix it if you’re in the union.
WARNING: We’re getting reports
about shonky bosses who don’t
think it’s necessary to pay super or
long service leave or overtime
entitlements! Guess what? They do
– it’s LAW! My advice is to check
your pay slips and account
statements – if you’re not getting
paid let us know now. To any boss
who is ripping off workers – we will
come after you.
If there’s any issues I can help
you with or you have any
workmates who want to join the
union, please call me, Oliver
Godwin on 0459 135 031.
‘Con’ Tseronis hangs up his hammer
Long time union member and carpenter Costa ‘Con’ Tseronis recently retired
after starting in the industry as a labourer back in 1968. Con has been a
continuous union member since 1969. During that time he worked for SNT
formwork, CASC and G&N.
Con is proud of his Greek heritage – and to be a Union member. His is a great
example to all the young blokes out there on how to stay strong, pay your dues
on time and always be in the Union. He has seen a lot of changes throughout
his time in the industry like vastly improved pay and conditions. As a result, he’s
been able to build a good life for him and his family since coming to Australia.
Con will now have more time to pursue his love of horses and a punt at the
TAB. At his last day on the job Kevin Reynolds presented Con with his Life
Membership to the CFMEU.
Kevin Reynolds presents Con with
his CFMEU Life Membership
PAY YOUR UNION DUES. BE PAID UP AND PROUD...
Don’t be a freeloader. See your CFMEU Area Organiser or your site delegate now,
or phone 9221 1055 to get up to date.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 49
CFMEU

S O U T H W E S T R E P O R T
with Troy Smart
Bombs and bushfires all in a days work.
It’s been an interesting couple of
months down at Worsley with
bushfire haze, bomb evacuations,
caustic spills, directions for wet
weather gear and time keeping.
Talk about reactive not proactive. All
of a sudden they are now drawing
up a safety management plan for
Bushfire Haze. Hopefully they will
use the National Environmental
Protection measures as reference
for level of haze for air quality to deal
with the issue. Over to the Evac of
Bomb alert they are now reviewing
their plan. What a stuff up! After the
fact. Now you see emergency
muster point signs everywhere!
Betchel still refuse to meet with
Unions over safety issues, hiding
behind the CCI who are the bosses
union. Funny how bosses can have
a union but they make it hard for
their workers to be a part of one!!!
Since Jan 10th this year we’ve been
waiting for the Icam and Mines
Department report into the tower
crane collapse. How long does it
bloody take!!! Over at the MFC
Power station morale is at an all
time low. Keep kicking on boys…
the tide will turn. Stay strong.
Boddington Worsley Project is
starting to move with Laing
O’Rourke being the major
contractor there.
Desal Plant agreement should be
out on site soon to be voted on.
Cimeco + Downers are the major
contractors on site. On the bright
side, Urea Plant is set to start in
February with D+Z and DTMT being
awarded the contracts. The
Agreement is already done without
the CCI involved also with the new
modern award classification in
place. Stay Strong.
Any questions ring me, Troy Smart
on 0419 812 871. Go Dockers!
O F F T H E S I T E
with Kelly Hawkins
Membership application form on our website
We have many people ring our office to ask if we have a
membership application form on our website. The simple
answer is yes. You’ll find it in several locations. Perhaps
the easiest place to find and download it is on our home
page. Just go to the home page and you’ll see a link,
click on it and it will open up for you to print off.
You’ll also find it in our membership section.
NO ONE LIKES FREELOADERS ON SITE!
If you’re an existing member and have any non-member
mates or co-workers you would like to encourage to join,
you can point them to our website or print off a copy of
the application form for them to fill out.
UNION BENEFITS
On the home page of our website you’ll also find a link
that details and displays all the benefits that can be
gained from being a member of our union.
JOURNAL ISSUES
Another handy tool is that you can down load and read
back copies of our Construction Worker Journal – just
click on the NEWS tab at the top of our Home Page and
click on ‘The Journal.’
RATES OF PAY
Current pay rates and conditions are available by clicking
on our pay and conditions tab on the home page.
Check it out NOW and put it your favourites list: www.cfmeuwa.com
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 51
CFMEU

A B C C U P D AT E
with Kevin Reynolds.
Rudd’s goons single out the CFMEU
As far back as the old BLF days,
political parties in this country have
had a long history of attacking
building unions and using it as a
diversionary tactic to take the
media’s heat off their own
ineptitude.
Over the years various Royal
Commissions and enquires have
found absolutely nothing of note
against building unions.
The establishment of the ABCC
from the Cole Royal Commission
was primarily an excuse for the
Government to have an anti building
worker public relations department
who could spit out vitriol against
construction workers who dare to
stand up to the big end of town.
Workers protest outside the HQ of the ABCC in WA
When you have a union that dares to take on the ‘Princes of Profit’, you are
going to upset the powers that be. This union and its ancestry have a proud
history of putting their members first. That’s why Australian building and
construction workers have some of the best pay and conditions in the western
world and there are plenty of people who don’t like it!
Whether it’s disputes involving other unions, safety meetings or union meetings
it’s the CFMEU and their members who are almost always singled out by the
ABCC for their special attention. Why?
We are effective. We get things done. We don’t roll over. And we tell the
truth. We are all things the current government is not.
And the ABCC could never be.
A VISIT WITH JULIA GILLARD
Julia Gillard recently paid a visit up North where she was
greeted by a card carrying ALP member. The
confrontation in full view of all the media circus was
hardly reported, so this is what transpired. During the
conversation she was called a ‘Rat’ by the long term ALP
member. She was asked by him why she hadn’t
abolished the ABCC. Her excuse was given as that the
Government doesn’t have the numbers in the Senate!
“It will take time” she said. “That’s Rubbish” came the
reply. He said, “You are still using taxpayer’s money to
fund these goons!” The ALP member told her to start
looking for another job, that she was about as authentic
as a Steven Segal Movie!!
As other workers crowded
around she was told that she
He didn’t
was only deputy PM by the
mean for you good will of the workers. She
apparently looked over to the
to kiss those
Woodside bosses for a sign of
cheeks Julia! support to get out of this
awkward situation. She was
told “No use looking at them
for support, they didn’t even vote for you or Rudd! She
was told that she and Rudd should not forget where their
bread is buttered!!
Julia was last seen in the NW attending a John Farnham
concert in the Kimberley, sitting in a $450 front row seat.
She’s not ‘The Voice’ of the worker!
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 53
CFMEU

THE NORTH WEST REPORT
with Brad Upton
Crane drivers stand strong.
Mammoet lawyers get fat.
There’s been action a plenty up in the North West. As you may know 12 crane drivers
(The Mammoet 12) elected to take ‘protected action’ under the auspices of Fair Work
Australia. This was a last resort coming on the back of a long period of frustration in
trying to negotiate a better, fairer deal with Mammoet.
This type of action is not taken lightly and below you can see the exhaustive avenues
the union went through and the ‘roadblocks’ that were put up by the company to
hinder the process. Mammoet lawyers are getting fatter and richer from going to
FWA while the workers starve!
• CFMEU first started to try and talk to the employer in July of 2009
• Since that time Mammoet, rather than talk to their employees, have thrown lawyer after lawyer at the matter. They
have flown lawyers in from Melbourne and used the best that St George’s Terrace has to offer – all this money paid
to lawyers rather than to their employees then Mammoet went to Fair Work Australia to try to suspend the workers
industrial action (even though it was Mammoet who were locking out the workers) and Mammoet lost!
• The CFMEU took them to court for a Majority Support Determination – and won!
• The CFMEU took them to Fair Work Australia for a protected action ballot order – and won!
• The employees who voted were 100% behind taking industrial action – a meeting was held and again there was a
unanimous vote in favour of taking 28 days industrial action
• And Mammoet’s response – they locked the workers out of the camp and have since told the workers they will be
locked out of coming back to work for a further 28 days after the protected action period has finished.
We believe that Mammoets have taken a spiteful unhelpful approach, as part of a childish game of tit for tat. It won’t work
now and it won’t work in the future. If they think this is some sort of break the line tactic, they are mistaken.
I would like to thank all those who have financially supported the Mammoet 12 in their plight for a fair outcome. One for
all, all for one!
CFMEU KARRATHA OFFICE EXPANDS
Phil ‘Magpie’ Kennedy, right.
Due to increased membership and activity in the NW I am pleased to say that
Phil Kennedy, an experienced CFMEU Organiser and proud militant from Perth,
has moved up here to live and work in Karratha. Phil is certainly no stranger to
the NW having been up here several times in the past couple of years. Together
we will be able to provide all our members with even greater service. Now the
union that turns up will be turning up even more! Word has it that Phil is a oneeyed
Collingwood supporter. Go Geelong! Stick fat Phil!
GORGON WORKERS:
KEEP UP TO DATE
WITH NEWS!
If you’re on or going to Gorgon
make sure you subscribe to our
‘Barrow Bulletin’ to be kept up to
date with information. You can
subscribe simply by sending an
email to; editor@cfmeuwa.com. It’s
important in an isolated region such
as Gorgon, that you are kept up to
date with news that affects you.
Don’t forget, if you want to go to
Gorgon, ask me or Phil for a copy of
the Gorgon Agreement – it’s also on
our website on the home page at
www.cfmeuwa.com
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 55
CFMEU

O F F C U T S
with Joe McDonald
Keeping members up to date
with news around Australia
WORKERS LEAVE DEATH TRAP
Southport: UNION officials fear
someone may die at a Southport
worksite after the construction
company was issued with three
notices for work dangers from
Workplace Health and Safety
Queensland Officials. Police were
called to the site and up to 80
tradies downed tools at the Philip
Usher Constructions H2O
apartment Block.
Two incidents involved three
workers who allegedly received
electric shocks.
There were fears workers could fall
two storeys to their death, citing a
lack of edge protection or railings as
part of the problem. There were
concerns about access to the site's
crane. According to workers, the
driver was required to climb a fence
and stand on a small plank two
storey’s above the basement in
order to access the ladder to the
cab.
SUPPORT FOR OLDER
WORKERS
Sydney: THE Federal Government
needs to do more than throw less
than $15 per person at training
initiatives, if it is serious about
increasing workforce participation
among mature age Australians,
according to construction workers.
The CFMEU Construction and
General Division, which represents
tens of thousands of workers
employed in the construction
industry, says the $43 million
retraining package unveiled by the
Federal Government would do little
to improve the plight of mature age
construction workers. CFMEU
Construction and General Division
National Secretary, Dave Noonan,
said the funds would not spread
very far across more than
2.8 million people estimated
to be over the age of 55.
“What we need is to ensure
that a job in construction is a
career for life and not one that is
terminated as soon as a worker
turns 50.” The CFMEU has said it
plans to make the plight of mature
age workers an industrial issue.
NAIL GUN SHOOTS TEEN IN
HEAD
Melbourne: A teenager was shot in
the head with a nail gun on a
Melbourne worksite. The 18-yearold
man was putting up a fence
when he was injured.
Intensive care paramedics from
Footscray arrived within three
minutes of the call, followed by
advanced life-support paramedics.
Intensive care paramedic Brett
Wilson says the man was bending
over when he was hurt. “The man
told us he was picking up off cuts
from the fence, and when he stood
up his boss accidentally fired the
nail gun.” Mr Wilson said. A sixcentimetre
nail had gone into the
top of the man's head.
He was taken to Royal Melbourne
Hospital to have the nail removed.
SURGE IN ILLEGAL WORKERS
Canberra: The Federal Government
is set to strengthen penalties
against the use of illegal workers
amid growing evidence of organised
and criminal recruitment practices
used by some employers.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans
has announced a review into
penalties facing employers who hire
illegal workers following a poor
success rate in prosecuting
offenders.
The move comes as figures showed
more 1271 people were caught
working illegally in the agriculture,
construction and hospitality sectors
in the nine months to March 31.
BOSS’S LACK OF SAFETY
LEADS TO HORRIBLE YOUNG
DEATH
South Australia: A court's been
told an Adelaide factory owner
thought extra safety measures were
unnecessary and considered an
investigator an aggressive bitch...
even after a young apprentice was
killed on his site. 18-year-old
DANIEL MADELEY died in April
2004 after his dustcoat caught in an
unguarded horizontal boring
machine at Diemould Tooling
Services in Adelaide, dragging him
into the gigantic drill and flinging
him around. He suffered injuries to
every part of his body his brain bled
severely, his spine was lacerated,
his arms and legs were broken and
both his feet were severed.
Giving evidence at an inquest into
Mr MADELEY'S death, former
Diemould General Manager
RUSSELL DANIEL says the then
owner NEVILLE GROSSE was
frustrated by the constant presence
of Safety Investigators in the factory
after the young man's death. But Mr
DANIEL said his former boss who
died in 2005 regarded all the safety
improvements imposed on the
company as unnecessary!!!
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 57
CFMEU

THE SOUTH METRO REPORT
with Paul Ferreira
Workers Gassed. Health Suffers.
Tiwest have been investigated
by Worksafe and issued with an
Improvement Notice after a
number of gassing incidents at
the pigment pant over the past
few months.
The number of contractors exposed
to gas at the plant was dramatic.
Since late February, 24 Western
Construction workers (almost a
quarter of the workforce) have been
gassed, with at least one worker
having been diagnosed with
‘chronic industrial induced asthma’.
He has since been told he will now
suffer with it for the rest of his life!
The Fiona Stanley site is going
along quite well. There are now 5
tower cranes on site, with another 3
planned to be on site before the
project is completed. To give you an
idea of the enormity of the project,
the section known as Block B will
have 10,000 doors hung!
In total at least 1500 construction
jobs will be created during this
stage of the projects which is great
news for our members.
I would also like to thank all the guys
who came along and bought some
union work gear on site.
Work is starting to ramp up down at
the Australian Maritime Complex
(AMC) in Henderson. Unfortunately
the AMC site framework agreement
that all companies have at AMC is
sub-standard. The CFMEU did not
sign this agreement but we will start
to get feedback from our members
and formulate a list of items that we
believe would be a minimum
standard to present and demand
that the CFMEU be a party to the
next agreement. Veridian Glass have
a new EBA in works, a lot of hard
yakka has been put in by Graham
Pallot and Hoani Dennison to ensure
the workers get a better deal. Stay
strong and it will happen.
If you need any assistance in the
south metro area please call me,
on 0427 244 147.
4 5 7 W O R K E R U P D AT E
With Brad Upton and Phil Kennedy
457 reasons to find jobs on seek!
A recent ad on Seek is advertising for riggers up North, on the Citic-Pacific
Cape Preston job, who have a command of both Mandarin and English!
How many riggers do you know who can speak both? Why would an
employer seek a Mandarin/English speaker? We think it has something to
do with employing 457 workers. Let’s hope it doesn’t mean more 457’s at
the expense of Aussies! Billionaire mining magnate Clive Palmer, a vocal
critic of the super profits mining tax, has the lease at Cape Preston.
Palmer is saying that a higher mining tax would rob Aussies of jobs and
that projects would be moved off shore. Yet here we have a situation
where a company on Cape Preston is putting criteria on jobs that makes
it extremely hard for most Aussies to apply. Go figure!
Hey, find one of your many Mandarin speaking mates down the pub to
translate this for you!
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 59
CFMEU

NORTHERN SUBURBS REPORT
with Mark Hudston and Rob Pearson
MINI BOOM IN ELLENBROOK!
Ellenbrook is a real hive of activity
with several hundred construction
workers currently working on a
multitude of projects. A sea of Hi-Vis
can often be seen when travelling
into the area and it looks like staying
that way for a while. Built-Environs
are doing a major extension to the
shopping centre and Prime, BGC
and Killcullen-Clark are building
several major apartment
developments. One project all the
blokes are looking forward to seeing
completed is the new pub by Badge
Constructions. Derwent are building
a new high school and Universal
have a TAFE development on the go.
Asbestos has once again risen it’s
ugly head on construction sites
around Sir Charles Gairdner
Hospital, causing some sites to be
shut down, with workers having to
go and work at alternate jobs while
the threat is assessed and cleaned
up. We strongly urge all workers to
exercise caution.
NEED PROBLEMS FIXED?
Smaller sites shouldn’t mean that you have to put up with lousy conditions. We
have many situations such as these that we have fixed. Non-sewered and
stinking toilet facilities, no tea/coffee facilities, no fridges, no air-con or proper
lunch rooms, no fresh water, no safety conditions and more.
We have fixed problems for workers who have not been getting their correct
entitlements such as superannuation, redundancy payments and accrual of long
service leave. We have fixed problems for workers who have been ripped off!
Yes, we can help to fix these things if you and your co-workers are in the union.
You can be a collective force to be reckoned with, improve your conditions and
perhaps seek better pay through a union negotiated EBA. More information
contact Mark Hudston 0419 812 864 or Rob Pearson 0459 135 033.
‘Cyclone Kennedy’ heads North
During the last CFMEU election one of the policies put forward by State Secretary Kevin
Reynolds was to expand our office in Karratha. The North West is a hub of activity with many
issues unique to the region. CFMEU Organiser and proud militant, Phil Kennedy is now
permanently based in Karratha along with Brad Upton to provide our growing membership with
even more service and representation. Their motto in working together is “ The union that has
a reputation for turning up will be turning up even more!!!” Prior to becoming an Organiser, Phil
worked in the trade with extensive construction experience in Victoria, where he was also a
shop steward in Geelong before seeing the light and heading West. After 3 years working in the
Perth office Phil is looking forward to living in Karratha with his young family and working with
Brad Upton to bring even better pay and conditions to workers in the North West.
Those wishing to contact Phil can do so by calling 0427 244 141.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 61
CFMEU

N O R T H W E S T F O C U S
with Dave Kelly
Bosses want to keep NW workers in the dark!
Dave Kelly was engaged by the
CFMEU National Office to deliver
Fair Work Act information and
education sessions to CFMEU
members. Detailed information
about his program was published
in a previous edition of the Union
Journal. As part of this national
program he visited Western
Australia. This is his report on
meetings in the Pilbara:
Where but in the big North West
would bosses break up a Federal
Government sponsored program
about work rights? And who else
but the ACCI (or the chamber of
horrors as they are known in the
East) would even think of docking
workers 4 hours pay and threaten
injunctions against them just
because they wanted to know more
about the new industrial relations
laws?
Nice try, but the more workers truly
see a company’s anti union colours
the more staunch they get – half a
dozen workers came directly up to
collect joining cards from a smiling
Brad Upton, CFMEU area organiser.
Well, that was my welcome to
down-town Cape Preston, a
hundred and fifty kilometres or so
north of Karratha – a firsthand
insight into big business’
determination to smash strong rank
and file Unions like the CFMEU. As
they say, knowledge is power and
understanding the new workplace
laws (less than satisfactory they may
be) is regard as trouble to employers
wanting to keep workers ignorant,
divided and conquered.
CFMEU Organiser, Brad Upton in discussion at the NW monthly members meeting –
Be informed, make sure you attend each month at the Rec Club.
But challenge has always bred
defiance in working people, and
despite difficulties getting on site,
North West Organiser Brad Upton
managed to arrange a number of
very successful meetings to explain
how the Rudd/Gillard Fair Work Act
will affect Australian workplaces –
where they are better than Howard’s
hated Workchoices and where they
are the same. I was fortunate
enough to meet some of the best
union activists in the country who
were standing up to arguably the
most vicious anti-worker forces in
Australia.
While being able to address large
groups of workers on sites in the
North West proved challenging, the
union’s monthly meeting proved to
be one of the best that I held under
the program, with about one
hundred in attendance at the
Karratha Rec Club.
These men, women and their
families, working in this harsh
region, wanted to know how the
new laws will help them, and what
the future held for remote
community living and the insecurity
of Fly in Fly out employment. The
answer will not alone be found in
Governments and legislation. As
always, the welfare and progress of
Australian workers will be
determined by the strength of their
organisation and their willingness to
stick together despite the odds.
The Pilbara is an eye opener and
you can really see what current
restrictions on workers’ rights to
organise is all about – they want us
dirt cheap – no fuss, no complaints,
no rights.
All the best to Brad and Phil
Kennedy who is joining him to build
our union across the North West
region.
*Dave Kelly, former National Official,
now organising with the NSW Branch
in Civil and Mechanical Construction.
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 63
CFMEU

P E T E ’ S PA G E
with Peta Arnold
BLACK DUCKS WIN CFMEU CUP
DECORATED
HARD HAT
COMPETITION!
Decorate your hard hat any way
you like. Paint it, use stickers,
whatever, then send us a photo.
You can email an image to
editor@cfmeuwa.com or hand
a print to your CFMEU Organizer.
The best photo wins a carton of
beer (pack of 24) of your choice!
And you get your pic and story in
the next journal.
The biggest match outside of the AFL grand Final
was recently played between Ark’s Tribe and the
Black Ducks for the Inaugural CFMEU cup.
The Black Ducks ran out winners 14.8 - 88 to
3.3 - 21. Thanks to ‘Toady’ from PMH for making
the Cup, Macca for organising the bread from
Baker’s Delight and Harry and Ian off the gate at
Fiona Stanley for helping with the beer.
SCOTT MITCHELL:
‘PIE OFF’ WINNER
Scotty gets rid of the evidence!
There was recently a ‘Pie Off’ at C2
in the city. About 12 blokes sat
down to gobble down as many
COLD pies as they could in 30
minutes. Scotty Mitchell won the
event after shoving down 9 pies to
be the last man standing – or should
we say spewing. Well done Scott! It
was great fun for all the boys. There
should be more craic like this on
sites these days!
WAY TO GO FANG!
Fang and Normie from Perth
Rigging had a Derby Day
bet…Fang who is a mad Dockers
supporter won the bet with
Normie Firth an Eagles supporter.
Normie had to wear ‘Docker
Clobber’ to work all week. Looks
like the Eagles can’t win anything
this season – too much
chardonnay perhaps!
Farewell: Jill, Peta, Linda,
Emma, Kelly, Tammy.
WE’LL MISS YOU
EMMA!
Emma Griffiths (nee Vawser) our
Membership Officer has left us after 5
years this time around (Em previously
worked another 5 year stint at the
office) to await the birth of her first
child. If the bub is anything like Mum it
be a real pearler! I along with Kevin
and all the staff as well as a lot of
members will miss Emma for the great
job and cheery attitude she brought to
her job everyday day. Who knows, we
may see her back again – she’d be
welcome that’s for sure! Good luck Em
in this exciting new stage of your life.
Page 64 Construction Worker – Winter 2010