Australia: Labor Party attempts to liquidate militant union – fight back with a general strike!

Following weeks of speculation, based on as-yet-unproven allegations of corruption and criminality in the bourgeois media, on Friday 23 August the ruling Australian Labor Party (ALP) launched an unprecedented attack on the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU). Via draconian legislation passed by the Federal Government, with the help of the right-wing opposition, the ALP has sacked the leadership of one of Australia’s most militant unions and, in the words of one CFMEU regional secretary, “opened the gates of hell for tens of thousands of workers.”

Having ousted the CFMEU leadership on spurious grounds, the government appointed an ‘administrator’ to run the union with an iron fist on their behalf, immediately sacking 270 Union employees. This has sparked an immense wave of protests across Australia, with tens of thousands of workers attending some of the largest rallies that the country has seen in years.

The ‘Fair’ Work Bill

This unprecedented attack on the CFMEU began with the passing of the ALP’s so-called Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Amendment (Administration) Bill 2024. This 31-page document is a vile and sweeping assault on the democratic rights of construction workers in Australia, but don’t take our word for it! In the words of ‘Labor’ Party Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt: 

“This represents the strongest action available to the government and the strongest action ever taken by a government against an Australian union or employer group.”

That a leading politician from a supposedly left-wing party would openly boast to the press about their attempts to liquidate one of the country’s strongest unions can only show the depths of the betrayals of the ALP.

The union-busting content of the Bill is unambiguous. The CFMEU will be ‘administered’ by the government’s appointed lackey for a minimum of three years. During this period, the administrator has the power to ‘remove’ union staff at will. In truly Orwellian style, these ‘removed persons’ (read: ‘sacked union staff’) are barred from representing workers, or publicly or privately associating with the union in any capacity. The legislation provides for civil fines of up to ‘600 Penalty Units’ (roughly AUD$189,000) for any individuals or groups who breach these conditions. It can also impose criminal fines up to five times higher, and jail terms of up to two years.

‘Removed persons’ have no right of legal redress and the administrator is not obliged to provide any reasons for a ‘removal’. The legislation explicitly gives the administrator absolute legal impunity to carry out the government’s desired programme of gutting the union in its entirety and depriving construction workers of their democratic right to organise.

Why target the CFMEU?

The current attack on the CFMEU represents the culmination of a decades-long campaign by the Australian ruling class against construction workers. Attempts to silence the militant construction workforce have ranged from harsh fines and criminal accusations to a months-long farcical debate in court over whether union officials were allowed to visit their friends at work to have a cup of tea.

The real crime of the CFMEU is that it has been one of the more successful unions in winning and holding its ground on better pay and safety conditions / Image: CJMurrumbeena, Twitter

The latest claims centre around the supposed infiltration of the CFMEU by criminal biker gangs, who we are told have sought out positions of authority within the union. Irrespective of the truth of these allegations – not one of which has been proven – the motive behind the ruling class’ attack on the CFMEU clearly has nothing to do with their feigned concern about organised crime.

The real crime of the CFMEU is that it has been one of the more successful unions in winning and holding its ground on better pay and safety conditions for its members. In December, Australia became the first country to ban engineered stone – a hazardous but extremely cheap material linked to debilitating lung disease – after a concerted campaign led by the CFMEU. So far this year, the union has also won notable pay rises for construction workers and succeeded in having industrial manslaughter legislation introduced to place heavy fines on negligent bosses.

The CFMEU’s record as one of the most militant unions in Australia undoubtedly angered a significant section of the ruling class. Bloated property developers have grown fat in recent years from Australia’s crippling housing prices, which are among the highest in the world and are only set to rise. 

Housing moguls have for the most part succeeded in keeping homes in short supply, raising rent prices far above inflation, and keeping construction costs down. Woe betide any upstart union that dares threaten the profits of Australian real estate billionaires with demands for workplace safety and decent pay.

Into this context of Australia’s housing market anarchy steps Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, a loyal servant of the ruling class at the head of a party slowly sinking in the polls. 

The ALP has been consistently unable and unwilling to deliver on its hollow promises to reduce housing costs and build more homes. Indeed, such a programme is absolutely incompatible with the interests of the real estate bosses, who have consistently given millions of dollars in donations to the ALP in order to ensure that these interests are taken into account.

It is clear that the ALP’s eagerness and ruthlessness in attacking the CFMEU is not only to protect the profits of the real estate bosses, but to present itself as ‘getting serious’ on the housing question. It goes without saying that slashing union rights will have no meaningful impact on housing prices – which are dictated by Australia’s particularly insidious, profit-hungry real estate monopoly – but this is of no concern to the leaders of the ALP.

The ALP is not a friend of the workers

While the ALP has always had a poor history of defending the interests of the working class, the current attacks of the CFMEU represent one of the most egregious attempts in the party’s history to present itself as a safe pair of hands for the capitalist class.

The current crackdown on the CFMEU would make Thatcher proud / Image: UNSOCIAL UNSECURE, Twitter

Albanese has gone as far as to invoke the famous anti-union slogan of arch-reactionary Margaret Thatcher, stating in interviews last week that “the government is not for turning”. This is the fighting rhetoric of the capitalist class coming from the mouth of a supposedly ‘Labor’ Prime Minister! Indeed, the current crackdown on the CFMEU would make Thatcher proud.

The employers and bourgeois media are delighted at the speed and ferocity with which the current leaders of the ALP have cracked the whip of reaction. The capitalist class has tasted the blood of the union and the last week has seen a flurry of articles pushing for a further crackdown, the cutting of all ties between the ALP and the CFMEU, the expulsion of union members from the party and so on.

Joining this unholy alliance of the ALP, the bosses and the capitalist media is the right-wing Liberal-National opposition, who were more than happy to help the government pass their scandalous attack on the CFMEU. 

Few in the hallowed halls of Parliament House could find a bad word to say about the plan to effectively liquidate one of the country’s most significant unions. The leadership of the ALP has fully and consciously positioned themselves in the pockets of the bosses and bankers. Their primary disagreement with the right wing has now become simply in what way the workers’ movement should be stifled.

As the ruling class closes ranks against the union, the class solidarity between the main parties in Canberra has revealed the true nature of the ALP as no friend of the working class. 

No trust in capitalist courts

Earlier this week, ousted CFMEU national president Jade Ingham stated that the former leadership of the union would be pursuing a legal challenge against the government’s legislation in the High Court.

Ingham correctly called out the tactics of the government as “active treachery and class warfare”, accusing them of having “stolen” the union from its membership. This is absolutely right. This self-serving, anti-democratic attack by the capitalist class must be called out for what it is.

Class warfare is not fought on the basis of the capitalists’ constitution, its laws or its courts / Image: CJMurrumbeena, Twitter

It is a mistake, however, to rely on legalistic means to resolve this question. Class warfare is not fought on the basis of the capitalists’ constitution, its laws or its courts. These bodies have been set up by the ruling class precisely and entirely in order to undermine these very struggles.

When asked about the High Court challenge, Albanese said it was “fully expected”, no doubt meaning that dozens of parliamentary aides have for months already ensured that the legal minutiae of the legislation is absolutely watertight. 

Rather than getting bogged down in a lengthy judicial process, the union’s rank and file should be mobilised to strike while the iron is hot and expand the struggle against the government’s legislation throughout the labour movement.

Ingham himself noted that a number of other major unions – including the Electrical Trades Union, firefighters’ union, Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, Rail Tram and Bus Union, and the plumbers’ union – have expressed their solidarity with the CFMEU and offered financial support, adding:

“They understand that this is not just about the CFMEU… This is a very dangerous precedent to set, and what the Labor Party have done is given a blueprint to the conservatives of this country to attack trade unions.”

Once again, this is entirely correct – Labor’s battle against the CFMEU is only the opening shot in a battle against the whole workers’ movement. What flows from this, however, is the need to unite the struggle and widen it to include the broader labour movement, rather than simply pursuing legal and constitutional debate in the capitalist courts.

Take the fight to the streets

In an inspiring response to the assault on their union and their democratic rights, construction workers across the country held an ‘unprotected’ – and therefore illegal – strike, walking off the job on 27 August to attend protest marches in all the major cities, as well as many others. 

In Melbourne, police estimated that up to 60,000 people marched for the CFMEU. If this figure is roughly correct, it places the march among the largest demonstrations in the city’s history – with Melbourne’s anti-Vietnam War protests, by comparison, reaching a maximum of around 100,000.

Regardless of the exact size of the protests, tens of thousands of workers flooded the streets on short notice, many of them facing docked pay for striking illegally. The mood of anger and determination at these demonstrations was palpable, with the workers’ frustration targeted at the government.

Now is the time for boldness / Image: CJMurrumbeena, Twitter

The electrifying mood of righteous outrage that has swept the working class is not restricted to the CFMEU. With the current legislation posing an existential threat to militant unionism in Australia, concrete efforts to coordinate strike action and demonstrations between the unions could bring truly unprecedented numbers of workers onto the streets.

Undoubtedly the sympathies of the vast majority of workers and young people are already with the CFMEU. This attack on the unions is simply a continuation of the Australian government’s recent undermining of democratic rights across the board, as shown by the brutal actions of the police during the pro-Palestine demonstrations and encampments. 

By broadening the struggle it would be possible to create a clear and class-based reference point for the fight against the government. The workers and youth of Australia have already shown their heroic willingness to fight against the ALP’s repression, but the ‘opposition’ likewise has nothing to offer other than more of the same. 

Now is the time for boldness. Given the gravity of the ALP’s attack, there can be no half-measures. The rising anger and militancy of the working class must be channelled and given a clear expression in the call for a general strike! 

This should not be undertaken lightly, but properly planned and built for, to ensure maximum unity and impact. The CFMEU must show the way forward, by calling on all the other unions to place their members on a war footing. Together, the formidable forces of the Australian labour movement could bring society grinding to a halt until this rotten anti-union legislation is reversed. 

Such a struggle has the potential to not only kill the ‘Fair Work’ Bill but bring down the government, demonstrating that true power in society lies with the workers.

The bosses’ and bankers’ system must be done away with in its entirety, and this can only be achieved by the concerted revolutionary action of the working class and the youth. The current struggle of the CFMEU has shown that the slumbering giant of the oppressed and exploited masses is beginning to stir, and if it wakes it will lead a movement that no amount of repression will be able to cow.

The conditions are riper than ever for the building of a genuine alternative, and the comrades of the Revolutionary Communist International in Australia are seeking to do just that. If you agree, then join us!