Building bosses desparate to keep their court

Building workers today accused the Master Builders Association of playing politics with the industry by pressuring the ALP to continue with the discredited Australian Building and Construction Commission.

CFMEU construction national secretary Dave Noonan said the performance of the ABCC to date has been one of biased prosecutions and the use of extraordinary powers that, in the construction industry, suspend basic rights such as the right to silence.

Mr Noonan said the ABCC had summoned in a new era where individuals are harassed and punished, with 107 workers currently facing fines of more than $26,800.

"By all means argue for the continuation of the ABCC on the basis that workers in the construction industry should not have the rights to bargain collectively for decent wages and safe conditions nor basic civil rights like the right to silence," Mr Noonan said.

"But be honest enough to cast this as a political argument about the shift of profits in the industry from workers to the employer, not about some high matter of principle."

Mr Noonan challenged the MBA to show where there was any correlation between the activities of the ABCC and the productivity of the industry.

"What the Australian building and construction industry needs is a long term plan for building a skilled and engaged workforce, not a quasi-police force to beat workers around the head.

"There is no place for the ABCC in the Australian construction industry. Labor should stick to its guns and disband it."

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