RANK AND FILE CFMEU AND COMMUNITY, FIGHTING FOR A DEMOCRATIC, MEMBER-RUN UNION 
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MEDIA RELEASE

Exorbitant salaries of CFMEU administrators revealed



30 October 2024


Financial data leaked from inside the CFMEU to members of the rank-and-file group Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU has revealed the exorbitant salaries being paid to some of the staff appointed by the union’s administrator in Victoria.



The figures shown in the above picture are for just over a month of staffing costs, from when the union was put under administration on 23 August until the end of September. During that time, more than $170,000 was spent on the salaries of just eleven members of the administration’s staff, with more than $164,000 of that going to just seven people.

The union’s government-appointed administrator Mark Irving is known to be receiving a total salary package of $643,640 a year. Calculated based on that figure, the $49,568.70 he is shown to have received in the leaked financial report represents just four weeks on the job. 

Assuming other figures shown represent the same timeframe (most of the staff weren’t appointed immediately upon the announcement of the administration of 23 August), the annual salaries of other members of the administration team would be as follows:
  • AC: Alison Currie (Chief of Staff to Mark Irving. Former PwC partner and advisor to Bill Shorten) – estimated annual salary $321,240
  • MF: Michael Flynn (Deputy Chief of Staff. Former ‘Head of Special Projects’ at the ACTU and close ally of Sally McManus) – estimated annual salary $330,874
  • MM: Michael McIver (National lawyer for the administrator - although it is believed that he has subsequently resigned from the position, further highlighting the waste of union members’ money involved) – estimated annual salary $268,740
  • CD: Clancy Dobbyn (Former communications manager at the CFMEU and member of the socialist left faction of the Labor Party) – estimated annual salary $194,796

Salaries like this are far above what even the most highly paid of unionised construction workers receive, and they are being paid for by union members’ dues. It would be one thing if, in return for this, CFMEU members had a say over what is happening to their union. But that’s not the case under the dictatorial regime of an administrator accountable not to workers in the industry but to the government.

A completely unaccountable bureaucracy being paid these exorbitant salaries can’t be trusted to represent the interests of rank-and-file construction workers. 


Quotes attributable to rank-and-file construction workers

"CFMEU members have voted to compel the administrator to be transparent about how much of members’ money is being spent on staff and expenses, but they refuse to tell us. Their claim that they want to encourage union democracy during the administration period is a lie, and their claim that administration is about returning the CFMEU to being an effective voice for members is Orwellian. The union was already highly effective. Administration is about the government trying to sabotage, disrupt and weaken the union as much as they can."
— Zane Alcorn, rank-and-file Victorian CFMEU member and member of Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU

“The incredible costs borne by rank-and-file members of the CFMEU to pay for the administration weakens our ability to organise. The administration has created a culture of fear: fear to speak up about our employment condition, which will help facilitate wage theft by dodgy employers; fear to stand up for our fellow workers by standing for democratically elected positions like shop stewards or health and safety representatives; and fear to speak by threatening ordinary working people with life shattering fines if they dare to question where their union dues are going. But we are not afraid. We know the true danger to our family comes from a construction industry where we have no voice.” 
— Alex Sproule, rank-and-file Victorian CFMEU member

“The ALP government said administration was necessary to make the union function in the interests of members. How is spending over $170,000 a month on administrators in our interests? This money should be going to organising, not unaccountable bureaucrats.” 
— Tristan, rank-and-file Victorian CFMEU member and member of Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU


Media contact
Tim Gooden
Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU spokesperson
Ph: 0402885779






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RANK AND FILE CFMEU AND COMMUNITY, FIGHTING FOR A DEMOCRATIC, MEMBER-RUN UNION 
HANDS OFF THE CFMEU!