A peak industry body for construction in South Australia has claimed serious allegations were made against members of the state’s branch of the CFMEU over several months.
The CFMEU national office placed its Victorian branch into administration on July 15 after a joint investigation led by Nine’s Newspapers and 60 Minutes uncovered alleged criminal behaviour and underworld links.
The South Australian division was also placed into administration as the union was under Victorian control.
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Now, the Civil Contractors Federation (CCF) claims complaints about CFMEU conduct at Adelaide construction sites have been rolling in for months.
“Bullying, threats, intimidation, cohesion, blackmail, extortion, you name it, we’ve seen it,” said Rebecca Pickering from the CCF.
The CCF told 9News it first raised concerns with the CFMEU in September.
In May, they put the allegations in writing, claiming contractors were being forced to become union members while intimidation tactics were used to ensure contracts were only awarded to unionised subcontractors.
If contractors failed to comply they were allegedly threatened with disruption.
“Going as far as workers being kicked off site if they weren’t union members, that’s illegal, that breaches freedom of association laws – they exist for a reason,” Pickering said.s
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Pickering said she expected to see action after the complaint was lodged.
But she claimed the CCF again saw “the activity still occurring as recently as last Friday”.
The CFMEU said there was no evidence of criminal activity within its South Australian division.
The federal government today opted to suspend the construction branch of the CFMEU from the New South Wales and Tasmanian branches of the party until further notice.
SA acting premier Susan Close said the state government was reviewing taxpayer-funded sites.
“We are in process of making sure the contracts existing in SA have been undertaken appropriately,” she said.
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