Building industry unions representing more than 200,000 workers will meet next Wednesday to map out the agenda for the November summit, which will include discussion about where to direct the significant political donations they have traditionally made to the ALP.
Senator Watt said on Friday night it was “a matter for individual unions whether they want to donate to Labor, recognising the work we’ve done to deliver more secure jobs, better pay, gender equality and stronger workplace protections for workers”. “I note the overwhelming majority of unions support the strong action the Albanese government has taken to start removing the criminality and violence that has infiltrated the CFMEU construction division, and to return the union to its core function, looking after its members,” Mr Watt said.
Mr Gray said next month’s summit would discuss financially supporting and campaigning for Greens, independents and other crossbench candidates at the election due by mid-May. “In the past, we have been some of the biggest political donors in Australia,” he said. “The real question now is if it’s not going to Labor, where does it go, and all eyes will be on independents, Greens and crossbenchers.”
He said there were a lot of close relationships between the rebel unions and the Greens, and “there’s a sympathetic want to support the Greens from many people in the blue-collar crew”. “Make no mistake on this: the existing crossbench and potentially what a crossbench would look like after the election … the blue-collar unions are looking very carefully on who we would support,” Mr Gray said. “Politics in Australia for the last two decades has really been run by crossbenchers: marginal governments with crossbenchers that you have to debate and discuss with every day. “The Greens are a powerful player in that at the moment. Coming up to the next election it’s highly likely to be a minority government with a crossbench again, and the blue-collar unions want to be in that space. “It wouldn’t surprise anybody that a lot of the blue-collar unions are looking towards the Greens and the existing crossbench and future crossbench to see if they can build alliances.”
The Victorian ETU is part of the 100,000-member Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union which voted last month to disaffiliate from the ACTU in protest at the peak union body not opposing the government legislation forcing the CFMEU’s construction division into administration. Mr Gray said the ACTU was “heavily dominated by white-collar unions, and there hasn’t been a great relationship for the past five years between the ACTU and blue-collar unions”.
“The general feeling among the blue-collar unions is that we need to come together and we need to show from a political and industrial point of view that we are a collective and that there should be a national body that represents that kind of thing,” he said. Mr Gray said next week’s meeting and the summit would discuss whether to set up a blue-collar union body with a constitution, and affiliation fees paid by union members “To come out and say that we’re going to have, right at the moment, a complete constitutional alternative to the ACTU it’s probably a bit early but the seeds for that will be sown next week,” he said.
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The ALP won’t be stressed, they have all those millions that they make off the poker machines they own.
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Blue-collar unions will examine bankrolling Greens and crossbench candidates in an election protest against Labor over legislation that forced the CFMEU’s construction division into administration,[ as the union rebels convene a summit to debate setting up a rival union body to the ACTU.](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/communications-electrical-plumbing-union-contemplates-splitting-from-actu-over-cfmeu-saga/news-story/e9780affb8e12e13bcb62b3db9e81909)
Building industry unions representing more than 200,000 workers will meet next Wednesday to map out the agenda for the November summit, which will include discussion about where to direct the significant political donations they have traditionally made to the ALP.
In decisions that will cost Labor millions of dollars, the ALP has banned donations from the CFMEU while the [Electrical Trades Union is withholding more than $1m in political donations to the party in protest at the government’s conduct.](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/electrical-trades-union-to-divert-1m-in-alp-donations-to-cfmeu-high-court-challenge/news-story/f76b8a1da0baa8fd81cc6679b505eb5c) ETU Victorian secretary Troy Gray said the CFMEU and the ETU had been the “two biggest financial sponsors of the Labor Party in the last decades so financially it’s a massive impact”.
“The ATM for Labor is completely out of service. They’ll have to go and beg and borrow somewhere else,” Mr Gray told The Weekend Australian.
The rebel unions, which also include branches of the plumbers, manufacturing workers and maritime unions, have timed next Wednesday’s hook-up to clash with [the first meeting of the government’s new National Construction Industry Forum](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/murray-watt-declares-cfmeu-scandal-a-once-in-a-generation-chance-to-clean-up-construction-industry/news-story/37eaa624ae70e2af1a082d6a500f9ddc) to be hosted by Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt. The ACTU executive will meet on the same day and be addressed by Senator Watt.
Senator Watt said on Friday night it was “a matter for individual unions whether they want to donate to Labor, recognising the work we’ve done to deliver more secure jobs, better pay, gender equality and stronger workplace protections for workers”. “I note the overwhelming majority of unions support the strong action the Albanese government has taken to start removing the criminality and violence that has infiltrated the CFMEU construction division, and to return the union to its core function, looking after its members,” Mr Watt said.
Mr Gray said next month’s summit would discuss financially supporting and campaigning for Greens, independents and other crossbench candidates at the election due by mid-May. “In the past, we have been some of the biggest political donors in Australia,” he said. “The real question now is if it’s not going to Labor, where does it go, and all eyes will be on independents, Greens and crossbenchers.”
He said there were a lot of close relationships between the rebel unions and the Greens, and “there’s a sympathetic want to support the Greens from many people in the blue-collar crew”. “Make no mistake on this: the existing crossbench and potentially what a crossbench would look like after the election … the blue-collar unions are looking very carefully on who we would support,” Mr Gray said. “Politics in Australia for the last two decades has really been run by crossbenchers: marginal governments with crossbenchers that you have to debate and discuss with every day. “The Greens are a powerful player in that at the moment. Coming up to the next election it’s highly likely to be a minority government with a crossbench again, and the blue-collar unions want to be in that space. “It wouldn’t surprise anybody that a lot of the blue-collar unions are looking towards the Greens and the existing crossbench and future crossbench to see if they can build alliances.”
The Victorian ETU is part of the 100,000-member Communications Electrical and Plumbing Union which voted last month to disaffiliate from the ACTU in protest at the peak union body not opposing the government legislation forcing the CFMEU’s construction division into administration. Mr Gray said the ACTU was “heavily dominated by white-collar unions, and there hasn’t been a great relationship for the past five years between the ACTU and blue-collar unions”.
“The general feeling among the blue-collar unions is that we need to come together and we need to show from a political and industrial point of view that we are a collective and that there should be a national body that represents that kind of thing,” he said. Mr Gray said next week’s meeting and the summit would discuss whether to set up a blue-collar union body with a constitution, and affiliation fees paid by union members “To come out and say that we’re going to have, right at the moment, a complete constitutional alternative to the ACTU it’s probably a bit early but the seeds for that will be sown next week,” he said.
The ALP won’t be stressed, they have all those millions that they make off the poker machines they own.