The CFMEU welcomes the decision of the Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke to rescind the Liberal Party’s Construction Code.
The Code was the last of a series of anti-union policies enacted by successive Liberal Governments.
The Code prevented Construction unions and employers from freely bargaining under the Fair Work Act due to provisions banning apprentice ratios, indigenous employment clauses, measures to promote women in construction and even banning workers from wearing union logo stickers on their hard hats.
Even printed safety advice such as Covid information was banned by the draconian Code, simply because the logos of the union and employer groups were on the document.
This is simply right wing cancel culture gone mad, enforced by a politicised and secretive government agency.
The Code as enforced by the ABCC has failed to address the big issues confronting the industry such as workplace fatalities and injuries, wage theft, and the exploitation of visa workers.
It has led to enormous red tape; unlike every other industry, construction employers were required to have EBAs approved twice, first by the ABCC and then by Fair Work Australia.
Hundreds of ABCC inspectors spent their time searching for hard had stickers and Eureka flags in a bizarre and wasteful exercise in state censorship.
There are important problems to be addressed in construction industry procurement, but the Code was nothing more than a bizarre and outdated list of Liberal Party prejudice.
Dave Noonan, CFMEU National Construction & General Division Secretary
