Critical Times

Bob Briton

Noel Washington, a Victorian official of the CFMEU’s Construction Division, will front a Geelong court on August 8 facing the prospect of a six month jail sentence for refusing to attend an interrogation ordered by the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). The case has brought to a head major disagreements between the trade union movement and the Rudd Labor government over the Howard-era building site Gestapo. The ACTU Executive voted unanimously last week to support a campaign against the commission to be spearheaded by the CFMEU and other building unions.

The ACTU-backed campaign will tackle the misinformation being spread by the Master Builders Association (MBA) that scrapping the ABCC would put the construction of better roads, schools and medical facilities for the community in jeopardy.

The truth is that frustrating the right of unions to access and organise their members, which has been enforced by the ABCC, has given construction companies a bit of a breather from essential oversight of pay, conditions and safety on many jobs. “The commission has delivered a golden era for the Australian construction industry,” as MBA Victorian Executive Director Brian Welch put it.

Noel’s case is a timely reminder to workers across the country that Rudd did not promise to scrap the ABCC in the lead-up to the federal elections. Labor chose to go “small target” over the issue and to rehash the Libs’ rhetoric about “lawlessness” in the industry and the need to have a “tough cop on the beat”. Rudd was swept into office on a wave of opposition to Howard’s WorkChoices industrial relations regime but he has not used the clear mandate on IR to take the axe to the anti-union commission. Over 70 percent of Australians polled by the CFMEU agree with the statement “workers in the construction industry shouldn’t be treated any differently from workers in any other industry.”

In spite of this desire for change, Rudd and Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard are sticking to their drawn out timeline for phasing out the ABCC. Former Federal Court Judge Murray Wilcox is to report early next year on the transition from the winding up of the AABC in 2010 to the establishment of a new workplace “cop” agency within Fair Work Australia. Unless there is an effective challenge, the offensive anti-union and anti-worker assumptions, legal underpinnings and activities of the ABCC could be dragged on in another guise into another decade.

Meanwhile, there is the case of Noel Washington as a glaring example of what is at stake. The veteran union official refused to attend an ABCC interrogation about union meetings held at Bovis Lend Lease in 2007. “You are actually going to have a union official brought before the courts, for what crime, for refusing to dob in his mates,” ACTU President Sharan Burrow told the media last week.

Outrage is being felt in the parliamentary Labor Party as well. Doug Cameron, newly elected senator and former National Secretary of the AMWU, is reported to have flagged the issue of the ABCC for discussion when parliament resumes late next month. “There is genuine concern among a number of MPs about the operations of the ABCC and the most basic fundamental human rights. That’s an issue the federal Labor Party needs to address,” former ACTU President and current member for Throsby, Jennie George, said recently.

The debate will be sharp and the job of turning attitudes around will not be easy. As recently as May of this year Gillard was saying “it is the intention of the Rudd Labor government to always have a tough cop on the beat in the building and construction industry.” The government is reported to be deep in discussion with big business circles about the next round of industrial relations legislation. The corporate sector is very clearly putting it to the government that the ABCC or its re-badged successor is non-negotiable.

The challenge is before the workers of Australia to get rid of the ABCC. It is not just an issue for workers in building and construction. The body is an example of what can happen to any union that seeks to overcome obstacles to organise its members effectively. The $500,000 commitment from the ACTU for a Your Rights at Work-style campaign is a great start. The rally to take place in Melbourne on July 30 promises to be show of the depth of opposition among workers to the objectionable, secretive workplace policing agency.