The CFMEU is a strong union and they need to be, Jeff Lawrence, ACTU Secretary-elect and LHMU National Secretary said tonight. "This union represents workers in an industry where one worker on average dies every week," Lawrence said.
"Issues relating to the ALP membership of individual union officials are ultimately a matter for those individuals and the ALP.
"The ACTU believes that all unions and union officials should conduct their activity in a manner consistent with community standards.
"In this context, the video footage of CFMEU official Joe McDonald which has been aired on national television in recent days does raise some obvious concerns.
"The matters to which these alleged incidents relate are currently before the court and Mr McDonald should not be pre-judged. Like all Australians, Mr McDonald should be entitled to a fair process and a fair hearing.
"Mr McDonald has indicated today that he does not intend to resign from the ALP. In this context he also has certain rights in relation to his ALP membership. That is why his membership of the ALP is properly a matter for him and the ALP.
"Members and officials of the CFMEU are not the only people in the building and construction industry who swear.
"But the CFMEU and other construction unions are the only organisations in the industry which will independently stand up to protect and improve the health and safety, and the rights and entitlements of building and construction workers.
"The ACTU continues to support the CFMEU in campaigning to get rid of construction industry laws which allow workers to be sent to jail for taking industrial action or refusing to answer questions from Government officials.
"These laws are undemocratic and unjustified."
2 comments:
This is a pathetically weak response. The ACTU should loadly condemn the Rudd-media witchhunt of militant unionists. Why do unions pay millions to a party that is opposed to militant unionism? Surely it is time to stop feeding the hand that bites them. Time for a new union-backed political party IMHO!
*CFMEU's McDonald statement*
Date: 21 June 2007
*
Press Statement by CFMEU assistant secretary Joe MacDonald
*
Thank you all for coming
On average one worker is killed on an Australian Construction site every
week. Both of the jobs where I was filmed were plagued by safety issues
and continue to be.
This whole debate is a huge distraction from the real challenges
confronting building workers.
I hope that when Kevin Rudd speaks of zero tolerance on lawlessness he
means that bosses who kill workers with unsafe work practices will be
jailed and workers who have had their entitlements stripped away by
employers with the backing of the Howard Government will see justice.
That is why I joined the Labor Party and why I would still like to see
them elected to office in the upcoming federal election.
Since coming to power, the Howard Government has put in place the most
draconian set of industrial laws in the Western World.
Building workers now face massive fines for taking industrial action
even where that action is to fix safety problems and they can be jailed
for six months for refusing to answer questions from the ABCC about what
happens at union meetings.
Yet a negligent boss who kills a worker or robs entitlements from his
employees still retains his right to silence. It is an appalling double
standard, something the public has come to expect from the Howard
Government.
I would like to tell the Labor Party how hard it is to represent workers
in the building and construction industry under the Howard Government's
industrial laws. It's a story I intend telling them during the expulsion
proceedings they are going to bring against me. For this reason I am not
going to resign.
These are the real issues facing workers in the building and
construction industry and whether I remain in the Labor Party or not, I
will continue to campaign to protect the rights and entitlements of
building workers.
Thank you all for coming
For further information
*WWW:* http://www.cfmeu.asn.au/
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