Policy & Research

In 2017, the CFMEU made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Education and Employment's Inquiry into corporate avoidance of the Fair Work Act 2009.

It covers the following:

i. Corporate avoidance through Labour Hire
ii. “Sham” contracting
iii. The insolvency/phoenixing problem
iv. Corporate avoidance of the statutory safety net
v. Unpaid superannuation

Click here to read the submission.

The ABCC will have a disastrous impact on safety and working conditions in the construction industry. Find out more with our fact sheets and case studies:

• ABCC Fact Sheets
• ABCC Case Studies

CFMEU submission to the Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee on the ABCC.

The CFMEU recognises the economic and social contribution migrants have made, and continue to make, to our country. We could not have achieved the society we have today without the invaluable contribution of migrants to our workforce, our culture, our economy and our union. Australia is a country of migrants, with a quarter of Australia’s population born overseas and over 40 per cent of people having at least one overseas born parent. Overseas migration contributes to more than half of Australia’s population growth.

The Productivity Commission is undertaking an inquiry into Australia’s migration program and the use of charges to determine the intake of migrants.

Thank you for the invitation to Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) to make a submission on the annual update of advice to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection on the Skilled Occupations List (SOL) for 2016-17.

The CFMEU is Australia’s main trade union in construction, forestry and furnishing products, mining and energy production. We welcome the opportunity to submit to the 2016-17 SOL.

Click here to read the full report

Recent media exposés of the exploitation of working people in Victoria’s labour hire industry have highlighted the insufficiency of current regulation and its inability to provide protection for Victorian workers.

ChAFTA is the worst trade agreement that an Australian government has ever signed and attempted to impose on the Australian public.

With full regard to the evidence outlined in this submission the Senate Committee should conclude that:

The Australian construction industry accounts for a disproportionately high number of corporate insolvency events. The most recent ASIC statistics show that 22.8% of all companies entering into some form of external administration in the 2013-14 financial year came from the construction industry. This was the second highest of all the industry categories, behind the ‘Other (business and personal) services’ category.