Michael Hiscox, Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) ACT branch secretary, has been sacked by the appointed administrator Mark Irving and the branch placed into administration the Australian Financial Review reported on May 13.
The ACT and Western Australian branches were the only two which were not placed under administration by Labor’s forced administration law, which allows an appointed administrator to sack CFMEU officials without needing to provide an explanation.
Hiscox has not had any allegations of criminality raised against him and he has no right of appeal. Irving told the CFMEU ACT branch that he had “lost confidence” in Hiscox.
Administration has gutted the union of its elected leadership and conflated allegations of criminality with militancy such as when CFMEU officials prioritise the safety of workers on union sites over bureaucratic box-ticking entry permits.
Irving said Hiscox was sacked because the ACT branch had suffered an 18% decline in membership and a loss of $500,000 since it was put under administration. But this ignores the impact of administration as the key driver of this decline.
There has also been a major decline in construction in the ACT. It is common for CFMEU members to temporarily resign from the union if they are not getting work on union jobs and need to either wait for work to pick up again, or work in the lower paid and under-unionised residential sector.
The Defend the Unions, Defend the CFMEU (DUDC) group said on May 15 that the administrator had targetted Hiscox, who is a plaintiff in a High Court case against the anti-CFMEU law.
DUDC said Hiscox was sacked because his opposition to administration had the potential to “either diminish Mark Irving’s powers or give him the boot altogether”. It said Hiscox’s sacking shows there had been no due, or member involved, process. “Irving has denied any and all requests from members in ACT and across the country for transparency of financial reports or union decisions being made without them.”
Hiscox, on behalf of the CFMEU ACT branch, released a withering critique of Irving in January. He requested transparency around how members’ money was being spent on administration staff and officials.
Irving and his opaque administration have ignored this and all other such transparency requests from CFMEU branch meetings and officials.
Irving’s disregard for members and officials and the lack of accountability makes a mockery of his claim to be “democratising” the CFMEU. He has never faced a branch meeting to explain himself or listen to member’s concerns.
The CFMEU under administration is less transparent and accountable to members, and far less democratic. As most union leaders have to be members of Labor, they have also mostly been silent on the forced administration of the CFMEU. In some cases, they have spoken in favour.
Unionists need to defend Hiscox and demand he be reinstated. His sacking has nothing to do with allegations of criminality within the CFMEU. He is being silenced for speaking out against the government takeover and straight jacketing of his union.