State and Federal Governments must act after Fair Work Commission allows ETU NSW & ACT multi-employe

The Fair Work Commission has today refused an application to pause the Electrical Trades Union’s bid for a Single Interest Employer Authorisation, allowing it to continue alongside a separate employer-led application. 

This is another step in the ETU’s attempt to takeover the whole electrical industry through a multi-enterprise agreement covering NSW and the ACT. This would be disastrous for the electrical contracting industry and the wider economy.

While the Commission did not determine the ultimate merits of either application, it refused to stop the union’s much broader claim from continuing. If the ETU’s approach succeeds, it would open the door to an agreement with devastating implications for competition, project costs and the commercial flexibility of contractors across highly diverse markets.

The Fair Work Commission was required to decide how the overlapping union and employer applications should proceed. It decided not to stay the union’s application and signalled that the two matters may be heard together, with a further procedural step still to come whether the applications can be joined.

Importantly, the ETU made its application with the consent of just two interstate contractors – one of which has now withdrawn its consent – and around 1,000 Sydney-based ETU members whose employers were roped into the application. This is a tiny proportion of our industry who alongside the union will effectively set the pay and conditions for electrical workers in every corner of NSW and the ACT.  

Once an agreement is made, the ETU can use a roping-in mechanism to capture businesses and workforces that are NOT currently a party to the agreement, locking them into restrictive, high-cost agreements which practically mirror the CFMEU clauses in agreements that we now know were abused by corrupt union officials. These agreements benefit the union and its opaque web of aligned entities, with very little benefit for employees.  

NECA NSW and ACT opposes all multi-enterprise agreements in our industry. They have the potential to reduce commercial flexibility, increase uniform cost pressures across diverse markets, constrain subcontracting models and materially affect head contractor industrial strategies.

The union’s campaign for a multi is particularly concerning. Our calculations indicate it could double the cost of electrical labour on regional projects, as well as metropolitan projects valued under $125m. This will have a material impact on the cost of NSW and ACT infrastructure and construction and add to inflationary pressures across the economy. 

Today’s outcome is bad for employees, bad for employers and bad for NSW and the ACT. NECA NSW and ACT are considering all legal options to protect members and the public from the adverse impacts of the union’s campaign.