A secret ballot will soon be held on whether the manufacturing division of the CFMEU stays with the union, or withdraws from it, after members were finally granted a vote on the issue.
Thousands of Melbourne CFMEU members will receive a 21 per cent pay rise over four years under a new pay deal.
The yearly 5 per cent pay rise will apply a month early each year under back pay and will lock in a 36-hour week.
Conditions previously scrapped under the Coalition’s building code will be reinstated including flying union flags and limits on labour hire.
Union officials will also be allowed to enter sites without a legal permit if they are invited by an employer.
New legislation passed the Senate on Tuesday allowing members a vote on the manufacturing division’s future within the union.
A secret ballot will now be held through the Australian Electoral Commission where members can either break away from the CFMEU, or stay amalgamated with the union.
“Our members are now on a pathway to a more active and respected role in the labour movement which they can achieve by formally dissociating themselves with the CFMEU and its ever deteriorating reputation,” the manufacturing division’s National Secretary Michael O’Connor said.
The manufacturing division said that it had “sought to put the question of whether to withdraw from the CFMEU to its members for some years but was frustrated by the construction division’s opposition”.
Members of the manufacturing division of the CFMEU will soon vote on whether to split from the union. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe
Loading embed…
The Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Withdrawal from Amalgamation) Bill 2024, which was based off an amendment put forward by Senator Jacqui Lambie earlier in the year, was passed with support from Labor and the opposition.
“We are pleased that the parliament has passed this crucial legislation,” Mr O’Connor said.
“We thank Senator Lambie, minister (Tony) Burke and all of the members of parliament who did the right thing by our members.”
The Greens, however, did not support the legislation on the basis of the opposition’s backing because the Coalition “are no friends of the union movement”, Greens Senator Nick McKim said.
But Mr O’Connor said: “The Greens oddly seem to think they are better placed than our members to determine what is best for them, their families and their communities”.
The manufacturing division comprises workers who are in industries including cabinetry, joinery, glass and glazing, installation and shopfitting, forestry, timber and wood products, pulp and paper, furniture, textile clothing and footwear.