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HANDS OFF THE CFMEU!
The Real Plan for the CFMEU – What you are not being told
8 July 2026
In February of this year, former Administrator Irving gave a report to parliament about his success in restructuring the CFMEU and turning it into a tame cat union.
He reminded the parliament how it was important to begin with sacking the whole senior leadership of our union on 23 August 2024. Then, in the months that followed, 90% of our industrial co-ordinators and 50%+ of organisers in Victoria were forced to leave.
Yet Irving says, in the report, this was not a mass ‘clean out”.
Meanwhile we now pay unelected people — with no construction industry experience, like Matt McGowan and Emma Kindon — to run the union in Victoria and nationally, because they are loyal to ACTU/ALP principles.
Do you remember why this happened?
Supposedly we were corrupt and worked with bikies, as allegedly ‘proven’ by the media, journalist Nick McKenzie and the now very much discredited silk, Geoffrey Watson.
But now Irving says we’re actually under Administration because we were not lawful. We broke industrial laws 1163 times. Laws that Sally McManus (head of the ACTU) herself said: ‘bad laws should be broken’. That is what made us crims – not the bosses that kill people, do dodgy deals or pay off crooks, but the union that stands up for its members.
So, here’s the real plan:
We are to become a co-operative and collaborative union that does not use confrontation or conflict to get its way. Perhaps this means we will be able to ask nicely, and the boss will fix all safety issues and pay us our wages and entitlements – because we’re a model ALP-run union?
Meanwhile, we will work with the coppers, the regulators and other unions – in a nice way – because they always take our needs into consideration and can be trusted.
Even if the AWU says that in reality – all civil workers belong to them – we will accept this,because it’s OK that some workers have shit conditions and pay, and no organisers. But hey … that will be the law, and we are now a lawful union.
Irving also implied that it’s OK to change our union rules without consulting us, maybe sell off our Wellness Centre, change our name or perhaps lose our RDOs, monthly members and shop stewards’ meetings, and make us do whatever the ACTU/ALP want us to do.
Finally, Irving noted that we are a rich union – at least we’re good at something – as he’d have to be happy with his huge salary! But they’re still going to try to have a few former leaders jailed just to remind us all to shut up and toe the line!
Why? Because our culture was too militant and we wouldn’t do what we were told. We didn’t play nicely in a cut throat industry – but we saved members’ lives, and we won good pay and conditions by sticking together and fighting for our rights.