Building unions back in charge: Gottliebsen

We are now seeing the first signs of the cost to the nation of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd spending so much time on global affairs.

Rightly or wrongly (and probably wrongly), some elements in the building unions reckon they have had the wink from Julia Gillard that they can regain control over building sites and have started to run amok, resulting in a string of allegations by contractors of violence and intimidation.

Unless Rudd intervenes or Julia Gillard changes tack, there will be a dramatic escalation, with a huge impact on the cost of infrastructure and commercial building in Australia.

The absurdity of what is taking place is illustrated by the Wilcox Report, which correctly identified that there was a serious problem with the militancy of some of the building unions, and so recommended that Australia keep the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

Then, however, having recognised the problem, Judge Murray Wilcox watered down the powers of the ABCC, giving rogue union officials plenty of room to regain control.

The building unions hated John Howard’s Australian Building and Construction Commission because it had been modelled on the ACCC and had a carefully constructed set of powers that worked together to be very effective in reducing building costs. John Holland spelt out to Murray Wilcox that the cost reductions had been substantial.

In theory, the ABCC is keeping its key powers, but in practice two of its key areas of authority have been mutilated so the unions now know the ABCC is a tiger with key teeth removed.

In particular there was a government code of conduct that is being watered down and there were a whole series of prohibitions in agreements that have been effectively removed by the Fair Work Act.

Many of the builders have managers that are prepared to roll over to union power, but John Holland, even in the bad days, was very skilled in who it hired. It often did deals with the Australian Workers Union, which was outside the militant union net. The AWU negotiated high member benefits, but then let the work proceed.

In Victoria, John Holland did a deal with the AWU over the West Gate Bridge extensions. Suddenly, after Gillard announced the removal of key ABCC teeth, we’ve seen a reappearance of people in balaclavas intimidating workers. No one can be certain who they were.

On another site, an ABCC official was allegedly head-butted. At West Gate, workers are being transported on and off site in military type vehicles, a reminder of the old waterfront days. Make no mistake, while Victoria may be the opening union gambit, I know that builders in Queensland have been threatened that there will be retribution. They are fearful.

The Prime Minister reckons that bikie activity needs to be curbed. What he must more urgently do is to protect the safety of ABCC officials and make the Australian Building and Construction Commission an arm of the ACCC so that all the powers of restraint of trade are vested in it.

The Wilcox Report recognises a problem, but then makes recommendations which mean that Australia faces mayhem of the kind already seen on the West Gate Bridge project.

This article first appeared on Business Spectator