The FWC is set to convene an initial hearing next week into the CFMEU manufacturing division's application to demerge, using legislative provisions passed in July that gained new urgency after then construction division leader John Setka's threats to derail Australian Football League projects.
FWC general manager Murray Furlong has accepted an enforceable undertaking from the TWU after a whistleblower exposed the Victorian branch's practice of retaining resigned members on its register for up to three years, rather than the 28 days allowed under the Registered Organisations Act.
The scheme of administration for the CFMEU's construction division and branches, in place from today, immediately dismisses most officeholders, but allows some national, WA branch and ACT branch officials to keep their jobs during Mark Irving KC's supervision of the union.
The administrator-designate of the CFMEU's construction division and branches, Mark Irving KC, has given a written commitment to act against crime and corruption by employers as well as unions and their officials.
The House of Representative has this evening passed the Albanese Government's legislation to put the CFMEU's construction division and branches into administration, accepting the amendments won by the Opposition in the Senate.
A notable difference between the federal legislation putting the CFMEU's construction division into administration and the FWC general manager's court application is that the former takes control of all state and territory branches, according to labour law academic Anthony Forsyth.
Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has this morning introduced legislation empowering him to put the CFMEU's construction and general division and its branches in the hands of an administrator.
FWC general manager Murray Furlong's bid to install an administrator in CFMEU construction division branches has hit a minor speed hump at its first court outing, with the presiding judge standing aside because he prosecuted officeholders when he acted as a barrister for the ABCC and its predecessors.
The Albanese Government will introduce laws to allow the CFMEU's manufacturing division to demerge if members vote for it, with the ACTU claiming "Mr Setka's personal grudges" have led to an exit push that "cannot be resolved any other way".
