HAVING seen the sheer arrogance of some of the of the building unions and their officials over the past twenty plus years and having been involved in the odd stoush I am still waiting for someone to take them on and clean the industry up. I should clarify myself here by stating that I am referring primarily to the commercial building sector and the CFMEU as the principal offending union.

The editorial in the Sunday Herald Sun, 27 September 2009 was entitled “State of the unions” and was a very well written succinct piece from which I will quote some interesting statistics and comments.

“Victoria has traditionally been the nation’s capital of radical unionism”. Few would argue with that – Melbourne was home to the infamous Builders Labourers Federation which ran riot in the 60s, 70s and 80s until being deregistered.

But “Normie” Gallagher had many disciples who simply moved into positions of ultimate power within the emergent CFMEU as the amalgamation of various building unions was completed in the early 90s.

These were the days of the industry wide “agreements”. What the Australian Federation of Construction Contractors (AFCC) which represented the major building and construction contractors, agreed to was pretty much it for the subbies with awards having a “major projects appendix” in addition to some “unofficial” site allowances and conditions being imposed.

The employers had absolutely no stomach for any fight and were complicit in ensuring their subbies toed the line e.g. no ticket-no start, C- Bus super at the site rate, IncoLink redundancy and site allowance.

Through this period of workplace reform that commenced with the Hawke/Keating, then Howard and now Rudd/Gillard governments it seems that nothing has changed in Victoria.

“Despite the threat of the global financial crisis, new figures reveal we are Australia’s building industry basket case with fewer days worked, higher labour costs and more illegal industrial action than any other state.” Consider the following:

“Since July 2008, 125 of the 254 investigations undertaken by the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner have been in Victoria.

Victorian building workers are averaging $2,149 a week compared with $1,616 in NSW (better representation in Victoria, officials would tell you.)

In the past three months, Victorian unions have been slugged with fines totalling $266,000 for unlawful industrial action. A raft of major projects have been delayed including the new Royal Children’s Hospital, Austin Hospital, M1 upgrade and the Westgate Bridge.

At the heart of the trouble is the main construction union the CFMEU.

Just this month, Federal Court Judge Susan Kenny slammed the union in dishing out an $85,000 fine for illegal activity dating back to 2006. Justice Kenny used phrases like “history of engaging in coercive conduct” and said its officials displayed a “wilful disregard” for the law.

Victoria’s builders deserve a fair go. But so does Victoria. We must offer an attractive environment for investors.

I have heard the judge’s comments many times before. As for the builders deserving a fair go – the builders are reaping what they have sown over a long period of time. They were easy prey for the BLF initially, and latterly the CFMEU (Vic). Instead of standing together under their organisation – Master Builders Association (Vic) and saying ‘no’, they would roll over one by one.

One would think that with the Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC) being formed by the Howard government from the recommendations of the Cole Royal Commission – and retained by the Rudd government, albeit slightly watered down, that employers would be able to restore some balance.

Unfortunately, it appears that the ABCC is running into the code of silence that seems to surround the Victorian scene. And whilst quarter million dollar fines look impressive they represent such a small percentage of conduct as described by the judge.

Get on with it ABCC.