Thousands of CFMEU members in Sydney stopped work today for the third time since August to protest administration, standing up to threats from the administrators and bosses.
There was also a strong showing from ETU members as well as the plumbers’ union, as around 2000 workers marched on NSW Parliament. This time the protest was held only in NSW.
“They did everything they could to threaten us, frighten us, intimidate us and try and stop us from coming here today, and it didn’t work,” CFMEU delegate Denis McNamara told the crowd.
The administrators in NSW even sent out an SMS to all members at 4pm the previous day claiming, “There is no CFMEU rally tomorrow.”
This followed instructions issued to delegates and organisers not to attend or to provide “resources including union banners and or flags”, and a letter sent to all members on CFMEU letterhead warning, “this action is NOT authorised by the CFMEU” and was unprotected action and claiming that if anyone attended, “your employer may have the right to take action against you”.
“We’ve been seeing the administrators trying to go out and pressure and intimidate and coerce workers not to turn up today,” ETU NSW Secretary Allen Hicks said.
“The Master Builders put out a nice little sheet to everyone in the industry during the course of the week. They wrote to me saying my officials were out on construction sites, intimidating workers to turn up [to the protest]”—but this was simply “lying” in an effort to deny workers their democratic right to protest, he said.
“So what I say to the MBA [Master Builders Association], and I say to the administrators, have a good look, because we’re not going anywhere.”
Greens NSW upper house MP Abigail Boyd also spoke, thanking CFMEU members, “for not listening to the administrator… for coming here and taking political action”, and condemning the law passed to impose administration as a “dangerous, dangerous law” that undermines democratic rights.
As sacked NSW CFMEU Secretary Darren Greenfield put it, “They thought they could scare our members into not coming out on the streets today.
“And they might have achieved it with some, but they will see that you’ve turned out on the streets to protest these rotten, stinking laws and stand and fight and that will spur others on. Next time they’re lied to and told not to come … they will turn up and they will turn up in droves.”
Confusion
The turnout this time was well down on the previous construction stopwork rallies in August and September. The efforts from the administrators created widespread confusion, with many workers thinking the rally was cancelled.
A number of bosses also prevented their workers from attending. Many workers from the large Fishmarkets site near Sydney’s CBD were unable to leave work after bosses threatened the delegate with the sack if they walked members off the site. Other companies also refused to let their workers attend.
The administrators’ efforts to stop the rally in NSW shows how they are tightening their grip on the union. They also tried to prevent organisers from the CFMEU office doing anything to promote the rally.
As Greenfield explained, the administrators “threatened [the organisers] with their livelihoods, if they come to the demonstration … they get sacked.”
This shows the importance of rank-and-file CFMEU delegates and activists making sure workers understand the administration’s dirty tricks and organising to carry their sites to attend future stopwork protests.
The elected CFMEU officials sacked by administration are still putting their hopes in the High Court challenge that will be heard on 10 and 11 December in Canberra. The ETU’s Allen Hicks urged everyone who could to go to Canberra for a protest on the day it begins.
But even if the case succeeds, Anthony Albanese will just change the law again to make sure the CFMEU stays in administration.
CFMEU delegate Denis McNamara told the crowd to “prepare yourselves”.
“If the High Court challenge doesn’t go our way in December, and we’ll hear their their decision probably the end of February or early March, we have no option but to shut this industry down until our union is delivered back to us.”
That is the kind of industrial action that is going to be necessary to defeat administration and stop the efforts to weaken the CFMEU.
By James Supple
