afr news: even more trouble-in nsw! Multiplex snubs building...

afr news: even more trouble-in nsw! Multiplex snubs building unions
Apr 05
Mark Skulley


Multiplex is refusing to sign a state-based agreement with construction unions for a $150million project in Sydney over fears it would then be ineligible to bid for major federal government building contracts.

The row has angered the Iemma government and the construction unions and led to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission warning that the dispute could undermine successful practices with the "consequential erosion of good industrial relations and prosperity in the building industry in this state".

The dispute is shaping as a landmark in the federal government's push to use its purchasing power to force industrial change in the construction industry by requiring builders wanting to bid for commonwealth-funded work to sign agreements that comply with the national construction code.

It is the latest hotspot as the Howard government tries to bed down its workplace changes amid controversy over the power of employers to sack workers, despite a NSW abattoir withdrawing termination notices for 29 meatworkers yesterday.

The construction dispute has presented Multiplex with a problem on the project at the centre of the row - a forensic hospital at Sydney's Long Bay jail - while raising tensions over its previously good relations with the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.
A Multiplex spokesman said yesterday the company had "maintained good relationships with its workforce and will continue to maintain co-operative relationships while abiding by the law".


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Multiplex has had well-publicised problems with the Wembley stadium development in London, but is in the running for a series of big federal government jobs in Australia, including a $300million Defence Department project at Bungendore.

Major NSW projects are typically covered by a state-based project award, which the federal government sees as being too union-friendly and not meeting its tougher national code. The national code outlaws many union-friendly provisions in agreements, including employers committing to reach collective agreements in future and not to use individual Australian workplace agreements.

The head of the government's policy body, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, John Lloyd, said last night that the ABCC had met Multiplex and unions.

"Our advice was that if they did enter the state project award, they would not be code compliant," Mr Lloyd told The Australian Financial Review. "The remarks in the [NSW Industrial Relations Commission] judgement ... are an overreaction and a misunderstanding of the code.

"The code reflects good industrial relations that should apply on a project. It has been more influential than a lot of people realised."

The NSW secretary of the CFMEU, Andrew Ferguson, said project awards were a way of creating minimum conditions on large jobs and covered matters such as a site allowance, superannuation, redundancy, extra insurance coverage and protection of entitlements.

Mr Ferguson attacked the government's stance as "unwarranted interference in negotiations between the parties", which would upset a system that had delivered.

"Multiplex is saying that they are now being threatened by the federal government that if they agree to a project agreement, they'll be blacklisted from any [government] work in coming years," he said.

"They know the merit of the project agreements. They've worked under them for the last 20 years, in particular all the Olympic facilities and major infrastructure."

NSW Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca said the state-based project awards overseen by the state commission had delivered clear productivity benefits, in contrast to Victoria, which was part of the federal industrial system.

Mr Della Bosca said the "superior industrial relations climate in NSW" had delivered bid projects for 20 per cent to 30 per cent less than in Victoria.

"But here we are, a couple of years later, with the commonwealth blindly pushing its ideology, ignoring the evidence that it doesn't deliver for employers or employees," he said.

The CFMEU took the dispute to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission, where vice-president Michael Walton said it would be the first time in the modern era that agreement could not be reached on a major building project in the state.

Mr Walton said in a statement that such state agreements had "produced relatively stable and harmonious industrial relations" along with "prosperous outcomes for developers and builders".

"This raises serious public interest issues for the state of NSW," he said.

He refused a union application to adjourn the case and directed the parties to confer before reporting back in May.

The executive director of the NSW branch of the Master Builders Association, Brian Seidler, said that site agreements were an issue for the entire industry, not just Multiplex.