New Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) secretary Sally McManus says she does not see a problem with workers breaking laws when the laws are unjust.
Asked whether the ACTU should distance itself from the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), which has faced 118 separate legal proceedings in various courts around Australia, Ms McManus said “there’s no way we’ll be doing that”.
“The CFMEU, when they’ve been fined, they’ve been fined for taking industrial action,” she told 7.30.
“It might be illegal industrial action according to our current laws, and our current laws are wrong.
“I believe in the rule of law when the law is fair and the law is right.
“But when it’s unjust I don’t think there’s a problem with breaking it.
“It shouldn’t be so hard for workers in our country to be able to take industrial action when they need to.
“Quite often these workers have stopped when a worker has been killed on a building site.”
Penalty rate changes a ‘straight-out pay cut’
Ms McManus said she feared recent changes to penalty rates for the retail, hospitality and pharmacy industries would spread to other sectors.
“The decision also says they want to change the whole definition for weekend work,” she said.