Last week, workers employed by five major contractors in the NSW building and construction industry voted on accepting a new company enterprise bargaining agreement.

Something historic happened – two of the major contractors’ workers withstood enormous union pressure and accepted their employers’ deal – click here for SMH article.

The crux of the alternate CFMMEU proposal is a 5% annual wage increase and to shut down the industry every second Monday. If the industry is shut down, workers will lose overtime and flexibility and the 5% annual wage increase will damage long term job prospects.

In addition, if the union is successful in NSW it will push up the cost of projects by more than 9% and shut down large sites for 26 days of the year. This is not progressive at all and could not come at a worse time as the MBA works hard to keep Australia’s key construction industry open and employing.
 
The employers’ proposal offers a reasonable wage increase and to maintain the current flexible Rostered Day Off (RDO) arrangement that the workers already enjoy. It is hard to understand why the union wants to take away their members’ flexibility?

It seems the CFMMEU is taking its lead from the notorious unionist, John Setka who has a stranglehold on the Victorian industry. There, the building industry is regularly shut down which undermines the state’s drive for more employment and better productivity.

In NSW, the union is claiming a 22 to 25 per cent pay increase over four years without any productivity increases at all. 
 
In the past fortnight, the union has launched a series of spurious attacks and claims against the building and construction employers and their teams who dare to question the motive behind the CFMMEU’s demands. 

The MBA has launched a campaign aimed at reminding the industry that RDO flexibility is a hard-won standard and that the union should not dictate to workers and the industry.