You’ve probably heard about the looming China Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) – not good news for construction workers.
You probably haven’t yet been told about the most alarming part of this dud agreement: its undermining and erosion of workplace OHS standards and conditions that unions have fought hard to win over many decades.
In January 2014, I was front-page news in relation to stories about systemic bribery of union officials in the construction industry.
I thought I’d share some ideas and reflections on risk assessments, by a man who I had the great privilege of getting to know whilst I attended Ballarat University, now known as Federation University.
2014 will go down in history as the year the CFMEU was attacked by everything the state and federal Liberals could throw at us.
I am proud to lead a union with a history of standing up for building workers. The fight for the best wages and conditions for members is what drives every one of our officials.
It is most likely that you will be reading and hearing a lot about our union in the press. Stories that are probably not very flattering based on rumour and hearsay beaten up as news.
Tony Abbott is well known for attacking workers, unions, women, terminally ill people and rubbishing the unemployed. On top of that, along with other notable Liberal politicians, he is out to get us.
Earlier this year, a wall collapsed in one of the busiest thoroughfares of our city, killing three people. In Melbourne and all over Australia, people have expressed shock that such a thing could happen. After all, we are not a third world country.
The CFMEU’s campaign against 457 visas has brought about some long awaited action from the Federal Government. They finally want to address the rorting of the system by employers who are bringing in cheap labour from other countries, while local workers are struggling to find work.
In the middle of 2012, implementation began on the Victorian Government's ideologically-driven Construction Code.
The body given responsibility over the Code, the Construction Code Compliance Unit (CCCU) then deemed that the Construction Industry EBA 2011-2015 was not compliant with the Code.