CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Tens of thousands of union members have rallied in Brisbane and Melbourne today, in support of the construction arm of the CFMEU.
These rallies aren’t as big in Sydney, because property developers in NSW are treated like royalty by politicians and haven’t had to worry about pesky trade unions for nearly a decade now.
However, in the Queensland and Victorian capitals, traffic is at a standstill, as growing mobs of angry blue collar workers protest against the media smear campaign aimed at turning their cities into a corporate paradise for the top end of town who would prefer to pay minimum wage to dispensable migrant workers.
These marches include many members of the ETU and other construction unions who oppose the Government’s decision to put the CFMEU into administration, in an enormous showing of solidarity that will make far less headlines that the allegations of a handful of bikies gaming the trade union movement in Melbourne.
Greens MPs appear to be the only politicians with enough goodwill to stand before the angry workers, as Labor goes into hiding from the very movement that created their party.
In worse news for Labor, the ETU’s general secretary, Peter Ong, has announced into the microphone that every dollar previously donated to the ALP would be donated to a CFMEU legal battle. He said the legislation putting the CFMEU into administration was the “worst act of treachery” in the country’s history and “would not be forgotten or forgiven”.
Meanwhile, Australia’s worksite pie vans are experiencing the quietest Tuesday smoko since Australia’s multi-La Niña events that kept construction workers indoors for nearly two years after the pandemic.
As anyone who owns a pub near a construction site would remember well, La Niña contributed to the recent heavy rainfall and widespread flooding across New SouthWales and Queensland in 2021 and 2022. And this means tools down.
In fact, the CFMEU has two popular chants that explicitly state this: “Wet steel, no deal” and “Rain drops, work stops”
This entitled attitude of Australia’s bogan construction workers, who feel like they shouldn’t have to work through the electrical and slipping hazards that come with pissing down rain, is just another reason why the media and politicians need to destroy the CFMEU. Also, all 120,000 members are bikies.
However, while the nation spares a thought for the pie vans today, the CBD pubs will be doing record takings after all the protesting dies down this afternoon.
