CFMEU Will Resist Howard Government’s Labour Reforms

Australian affiliate CFMEU sent a clear message to the Howard government last week on how it would resist proposed radical industrial relations reform: together with the Maritime Union, it dispatched 400 trade unionists from Perth to Collie in Western Australia to support striking construction workers at BHP Billiton’s new Worsley alumina refinery. Throughout February, strikers—including CFMEU members and members of ICEM affiliates Communications, Electrical & Plumbing Union (CEPU) and Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU)—downed tools over pay and dispute over their classification as individual contractors under the federal awards system, a system already denying them basic workplace rights. Under the proposed Howard reform plan, among other regressive measures, such individual workers could be sued for taking strike action. Last week’s 200 km solidarity caravan to Collie convinced two of BHP Billiton’s site contractors to settle the pay dispute and if another agrees to the higher pay, construction workers could be back to work early this week.