Tens of thousands of construction workers and their supporters have rallied in Melbourne and Sydney protesting against the CFMEU being put into administration.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Union officials say today's rally marks a line in the sand.
00:06They say members are fed up and angry, and they're not going to let this administration
00:11period lead to a drop in wages or in standards.
00:15So they've come out today in their thousands.
00:18Last time there was a rally, just after the government put the CFMEU into administration,
00:2460,000 people turned out across the country, 50,000 here in Melbourne, and there have been
00:29thousands who have turned up again today.
00:33Union officials say that enormous number has put politicians on notice, and they've come
00:38out today demanding that the administration doesn't change any of the EBA settings, doesn't
00:45drop standards.
00:47There is a lot of anger towards the government, towards the administrator.
00:51There's a lot of support for Zach Smith, the national leader, and for other union leaders
00:56who are represented here today.
00:58And there's still support for John Setka, who was the Victorian boss of the CFMEU, but
01:03was pushed out following allegations of corruption and criminal infiltration into the CFMEU.
01:10But they have vowed to keep fighting, take a listen to what the National Secretary had
01:15to say a little earlier today.
01:17Governments will come, and governments will go.
01:21And the administration has come, but the administration will go.
01:26But the union, the CFMEU, and all the building unions will be here for another 170 years
01:33and long after that.
01:38This rally comes on the same day that the administrator, Mark Irving, released his response
01:44to an interim report into the CFMEU, which was sparked by putting it into administration.
01:50The report found there is a cycle of violence and intimidation, particularly in the Victorian
01:55branch of the union, and that it had been infiltrated by bikies.
02:00It has implemented all of the recommendations from that report, and the administrator has
02:05vowed to crack down on bikies in the union, while these people here are vowing to fight
02:11on as well.
02:12So there is a lot to play out in this saga.