Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union ( CFMEU ) ( German: construction, forestry, mining and energy workers' union ) is an Australian trade union in the areas of construction, mining, energy industry and the forestry and timber industry. It has 120,000 members and operates in all major cities of Australian states subsidiaries, employs 400 staff and is divided into three divisions in the Construction and General Division, Mining and Energy Division and Forestry and Furnishing Products Division, each division operates independently.

The establishment of this Australian union is primarily due to a congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in 1989, on which the future of the Australian trade unions was discussed.

History

Construction and General Division

The Construction and General Division formed in the early 1990s as a national union CFMEU. The issue goes back to the fact that various operating in the building industry unions strove for the formation of a trade union: This was mainly the Operative Painters and Decorators Union ( OPDU ), which emerged in the 1920s and the Building Workers Industrial Union ( BWIU ), the self- the product of several mergers in the years 1946-1992 was. The BWIU was originally composed of unions in the craft sector issues, such as bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, tilers, masons, and other construction trades. The traditional professions were in the late 1980s, followed by the concrete and steel concrete workers and metal workers in construction, which were organized in the Builders Labourers Federation ( BLF) and were fused. The Construction and General Division also has members in shopfitting and joinery workshops and in factories, the material for the construction prefabricated, in brickworks, in the tile manufacturing and potteries in Queensland.

Forestry and Furnishing Products Division

The Forestry and Furnishing Products Division organized the forest and wood workers and carpenters, it was founded as a national union in 1907 as the Federated Sawmill, Timber- yard and Wood Workers Employees Association of Australasia. 1913, the name was changed to Amalgamated Timber Workers Union of Australia and 1918 in Australian Timber Workers Union. 1990, there was a vote of the members of the Australian Timber Workers Union and the Pulp and Paper Workers Federation of Australia for merger of the two unions to Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union. Another vote for the merger in the middle of 1991, the Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union and the Building Workers Industrial Union led to the current Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

Mining and Energy Division

The Mining and Energy Division goes to the Australasian Coal and Shale Employees' Federation ( ACSEF ), which was founded in 1916 and passed its predecessor organizations since the 1850s. This division was created by several mergers, mainly on the initiative of the Miners' Federation.

The Mining and Energy Division comprises workers in the coal mining, coal ports in the metalliferous mining, power generation, oil and natural gas and in the coke -making industry.

Policy

Initiated in 2001, the conservative government of John Howard Liberal Party of Australia, the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry ( Cole Royal Commission in Australia called ), who rejected the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens since this Commission its opinion had more to target to weaken the union as uncover irregularities.

From this Commission was created by the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005, the Commission into the Building and Construction Industry, may order the surveys and impose fines.

At the protest movement against the Howard government from 2005, which restricted the rights of trade unions with the introduction of so-called WorkChoices, the CFMEU was not heavily involved, as the concern of its members prevailed for their jobs.