Building commission in union crosshairs

by Justin Macdonald

May 15, 2008

AUSTRALIAN unions are stepping up their efforts to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission, introduced by the Howard government in 2005 to investigate misconduct allegations in the building industry.

On May 6, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, along with four other unions, unveiled a nationwide campaign that called for the ABCC to be abolished.

However, Rob Mitchell, media officer for the CFMEU’s WA branch told eMU News his union opposed the ABCC because the commission discriminated against construction workers.

“The ABCC outlines one set of rules for Australian construction workers and one set of rules for everyone else,” Mr Mitchell said. “The ABCC should have been abolished in 2007.

“Instead, the Rudd government plans to keep the ABCC until 2010.”

However, Kim Richardson of the WA branch of the Master Builders Association told eMU News his organisation was “very satisfied” with the ABCC.

“The MBA has for years been arguing for a strong compliance body to stamp out misconduct in the construction industry,” Mr Richardson said. “The ABCC is like the cop on the beat in the construction industry.

“It is not draconian and has a series of checks and balances.”

Mr Richardson said, that since the ABCC was introduced, productivity had increased by 10 per cent.