News

The announcement by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton regarding the availability of 1500 Work and Holiday visas (Subclass 462) has made a mockery of Malcolm Turnbull's promise of a "new and consultative" Government, the CFMEU said today.

Peter Dutton has announced that some 1500 visas were offered to Chinese Nationals between the ages of 18-30 under a program negotiated under the China Australia Free Trade (ChAFTA) deal.

The move will eventually allow 5000 young Chinese into the country at a time when youth unemployment is close to 14 per cent.

The Abbott Government – through its partisan building industry watchdog, the FWBC - is pursuing the CFMEU at a four day trial starting in Adelaide today, for going onto a work site to conduct an EBA ballot and assist a worker at risk of suicide.

CFMEU National Construction Secretary, Dave Noonan said the Government was conducting a taxpayer-funded assault on union and workers' rights, which he has dubbed "lawfare".

6/08/2015

With Australia’s unemployment rising to 6.3 per cent – the highest it has been since 2002 – the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union says the jobless rate will worsen under a China Australia Free Trade Agreement.

“The China Australia Free Trade Agreement contains unprecedented provisions that sell out Australian workers,” CFMEU National Secretary Michael O’Connor said.

“Under the Agreement, Chinese companies will be able to bring in their own workers on projects worth as little as $150 million (down from $2 billion).

The arrest of ACT CFMEU organiser Johnny Lomax for negotiating a pay rise heralds a dark chapter in Australian industrial relations, according to the CFMEU.

Mr Lomax who is appearing in the ACT Magistrates court this morning was charged with blackmail for securing a pay rise for workers that resulted in a financial loss for the employer.

National CFMEU Construction secretary Dave Noonan said that Mr Lomax’s charge goes against the legal framework that has operated in Australia for over a hundred years.

A national television advertising campaign highlighting flaws in the Abbott Government's recently signedfree trade agreement with China will begin airing from tonight, warning that the deal will leave Australian workers "without a hope."

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union advertisements — which will begin tonight in the ACT, Tasmania and Queensland — come as the union accused Trade Minister Andrew Robb ofdeliberately misleading the Australian public in his attempts to promote the agreement.

Northern Australian businesses will be able to exploit free Indigenous labour as a result of the Abbott Government's strategy to boost Indigenous workforce participation in remote communities.

The Union representing timber workers at Carter Holt Harvey Pinepanels and LVL sites in south east SA is calling on Barker MP Tony Pasin to support a motion to be debated in the House of Representatives on Monday to strengthen the compliance for safety and standards of imported engineered wood products.