Fresh from criminal contempt of court findings in the Federal Court regarding its unlawful blockades of Grocon building sites and damning testimony before the Royal Commission of the CFMEU’s thuggery, intimidation and willingness to abuse/misuse safety to further its industrial agenda comes its new Stand Up. Speak Out. Come Home. (SUSOCH) campaign.

The campaign purports to be concerned with encouraging workers to speak up about safety in their workplace. The reality is that it is an opportunistic attempt to convince people to assist the CFMEU in its industrial/political campaign to prevent the restoration of the ABCC – a regulator of industrial relations law, not occupational health and safety. To help finance its anti-ABCC campaign, the CFMEU has also announced this week that it will apply a national and Victorian ‘defend the union’ levy on its members.

So far, it appears that the SUSOCH campaign has succeeded in duping a significant number of individuals into signing a petition which will be sent to key crossbench Senators, which falsely claims:

“If re-established the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) will make it harder for workers and unions to speak out in some of the most dangerous industries in the country. We call on you to support the safety and dignity of workers by voting against the Bill to re-establish the ABCC.”

The best way to support the safety and dignity of workers is firstly, for militant building unions to stop misusing safety for industrial purposes; and secondly, ensure that the rule of law is adhered to by all building industry participants. This is something that would be assisted by the restoration of the ABCC.

Concerns over the conduct of CFMEU officials in this regard are illustrated in the recent Fair Work Commission finding that CFMEU health and safety unit official Steven Roach had engaged in conduct that had “no place in a modern workplace or in 21st century industrial relations”.

In his decision, Deputy President Gostencnik states that:

“Mr Roach needs to take stock of his conduct in the exercise of rights conferred under Part 3-4 of the Act lest he run the risk that conditions might be imposed on his entry permit in the future, or worse, that the right to enter workplaces be removed”.

This followed testimony that Roach had made employees irritated and uncomfortable when he and another CFMEU organiser conducted a meeting in the lunchroom during a lunch break, using belittling and abusive language including, “We’ve got to get these c- -nts”.

If the CFMEU was truly serious about supporting the safety and dignity of workers, it would start by addressing the misconduct of officials such as Mr Roach.