Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union


The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union is Australia's largest union in the construction, forestry, maritime, textile, clothing and footwear production industries.
The CFMEU has offices in all capital cities in Australia and in many major regional centres with the national office of the union being in Melbourne. Before the 2018 merger, the CFMEU had an estimated 120,000 members and employed around 400 full-time staff and officials.
In March 2018, a two-year long process ended resulting in a merger between the old CFMEU, the Maritime Union of Australia and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia. The new CFMEU had a membership of approximately 144,000, 1% of the Australian workforce, with combined assets of $310 million and annual revenue of approximately $146 million.
In July 2024, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, 60 Minutes and the Australian Financial Review published allegations of corruption within the Construction Division of the CFMEU's Victorian Branch. After the allegations were made, the CFMEU's Victorian Branch was placed under independent administration, the ACTU suspended its affiliation with the CFMEU's construction division in some states and the construction division's affiliation with some Labor state branches was suspended.
In August 2024, the government passed legislation which allowed Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to place all of the CFMEU's construction and general divisions under administration. Around 270 officials were told to vacate their offices.
In April 2025, it was reported that members of the Manufacturing Division had voted overwhelmingly to disaffiliate from the CFMEU and establish a new independent union; the Timber, Furnishing and Textiles Union. This was widely seen as an attempt to distance workers in the forestry, clothing and footwear industries from the Construction and General Division of the CFMEU.

Divisions

The CFMEU is structured into three divisions, each operating largely autonomously:
  • Construction & General division
  • Manufacturing division
  • Maritime Union of Australia division
Each division has its own discrete set of rules. Members of divisions are also divided into either districts or branches. Elections for office positions within the organisation, for which the term of office is four years, are predominantly conducted by the AEC. The supreme governing body is the National Conference, which consists of members of each divisional executive. There is also a national executive, National Executive Committee, Divisional Conferences and Divisional Executives.

Construction and General Division

History

The Construction and General Division was formed in the early 1990s with the creation of the national CFMEU. The creation of a single building union had been a policy objective of various building unions for decades with records showing the Queensland Branch of the Operative Painters and Decorators Union carried resolutions calling for a single industry union to be created as early as the 1920s. The rationale behind this policy position was the view that members would be better represented by a larger industry-based union rather than the traditional craft unions.
The largest amalgamating union, the Building Workers' Industrial Union was itself the result of numerous amalgamations over several decades between 1946 and 1992. The coverage of the BWIU included numerous craft unions representing building tradespeople including bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, tilers, stonemasons and various skilled non-trades construction workers. In the late 1980s the BWIU increased its coverage to include other construction workers such as steel fixers, concreters, construction labourers and trades assistants following the de-registration of the Builders Labourers Federation.
The division also has members working off-site in manufacturing workplaces such as shopfitting workshops, joinery shops and other establishments involved in the pre-fabrication of materials used in the construction process. Members also work in brick, tile and pottery manufacturing and in Queensland, the union covers furnishing trades as there is no formal Forestry Division in the State, due to the Australian Workers' Union's historical coverage of this industry. The Queensland Branch does, however have a presence in Queensland's forestry sector with CFMEU members employed by the State Government working for the Department of Primary Industries.
With the absorption of the Federated Engine Drivers and Firemen's Association of Australasia which had coverage of crane drivers, plant operators, and other construction workers, the Construction and General Division has moved closer to fulfilling the policy objective of creating a single industry union for construction workers.

2024 Administration

In July 2024, a day after John Setka resigned as secretary of the Victorian-Tasmanian division after a joint investigation by The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, 60 Minutes, and the Australian Financial Review alleged corruption within the CFMEU, such as criminals and outlaw motorcycle club members being parachuted into the union. A police investigation was launched into the allegations, but has not laid any charges as of 2024.
Following these allegations, the Construction division of the CFMEU in some states was placed under external administration by the National Office of the C&G Division. The Victorian Branch was placed under independent administration and the ACTU suspended its affiliation with the CFMEU's construction division in some states. The Construction division of the CFMEU was also indefinitely suspended from some Labor state branches.
In August, the government passed laws to place the entire Construction division under administration, removing 290 union officials from their roles.
Tens of thousands of workers protested the laws. Former Queensland Branch Secretary Michael Ravbar launched a High Court challenge, stating that the laws were unconstitutional, as they violated union members' right to due process.
Within weeks, the Victorian administrator Grahame McCullough resigned over claims of inappropriate comments to women.
The peak union body the Australian Council of Trade Unions supported the legislation, resulting in some unions leaving ACTU and seeking to form an alternate peak union body. The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union disaffiliated from the Australian Council of Trade Unions, and the South Australian branch of the CEPU disaffiliated from the Australian Labor Party over the issue.
In April 2025, former CFMEU leaders Darren Greenfield and his son Michael Greenfield, from the NSW branch, pleaded guilty to corruption and bribery charges, after reaching a plea deal with prosecutors for accepting a total of $30,000 from a building company owner, in exchange for preferential treatment from the union. The Greenfields' lawyer, Paul McGirr, informed the Sydney Local Court on Tuesday 15 April 2025 that a resolution is underway, with negotiations on a statement of facts progressing with the Commonwealth. McGirr expressed confidence that this agreement would be finalised soon.
In May 2025, national secretary Zach Smith stepped down to focus more on the Victorian branch.

Potential de-registration

In January 2025, opposition leader Peter Dutton vowed to deregister the CFMEU if he is elected as Prime Minister.

Political activity

The CFMEU is one of the most powerful unions in the Labor Left faction of the Australian Labor Party.
The Construction Division is often associated with the left faction of the Australian labour movement, but during the 2010 Federal election the CFMEU and AMWU donated a total of $60,000 to the Greens.
Each State division operates with autonomy, which results in differing services being offered to members.
The NSW Branch of the CFMEU General and Construction Division has an estimated 5,000 members and the Victorian Branch around 9,500.
In August 2010, the CFMEU donated over $1.2 million to political activist group GetUp! to pay for TV airtime for a women's rights ad-spot condemning Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party.
In the 2013 Election, the CFMEU donated $50,000 to the Greens party in the ACT.
In Western Australia the CFMEU and its constituent branches are affiliated with the Right Faction of the WA Labor Party; "Progressive Labor" alongside the AWU, SDA, TWU and related groupings.
In 2019, the construction division donated $100,000 to the 2019–20 Australian bushfire season recovery effort.
In July 2023, CFMEU announced a campaign for a super profits tax to address Australia's affordable housing crisis, with National Secretary Zach Smith telling the National Press Club in Australia that a 40 percent tax on excess profits would raise the billions of dollars to build social and affordable housing.

Manufacturing Division (formally Forestry and Furnishing Products Division)

The CFMMEU Forestry and Furnishing Products Division was first registered as a Federal Organisation 21 August 1907, as the Federated Sawmill, Timber-yard and Woodworkers Employees Association of Australasia.
The Union's name was changed in 1913 to the Amalgamated Timber Workers Union of Australia, and again in 1918 to the Australian Timber Workers Union.
In late 1990 a ballot was conducted by members of the Australian Timber Workers Union and the Pulp and Paper Workers Federation of Australia endorsing the amalgamation of both Unions to form the Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union.
Another ballot was conducted in mid-1991 on the amalgamation between the Australian Timber and Allied Industries Union and the Building Workers Industrial Union. This endorsement supported the first stage in the development of what is now the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. The Forest and Furnishing Products Division represents 20,000 members nationally.
In March 2018, CFMEU Forestry and Furnishing Products Division became the CFMEU Manufacturing Division.
In October 2024, an application to demerge the manufacturing division of the CFMEU was submitted to the Fair Work Commission by division secretary Michael O'Connor. In a media statement released on 9 October 2024, Mr O'Connor stated “There is absolutely no benefit to our members of the Manufacturing Division remaining within the CFMEU.
We are a union of honest, hardworking unionists who deserve better than being associated with the CFMEU Construction Division”. In the same statement, they proposed a new name of the de-amalgamated union called the Timber, Furnishing and Textiles Union.
On the 15th of April 2025, the results of the non-compulsory members vote to disaffiliate from the CFMEU returned an overwhelming vote to disaffiliate. With a turnout of just over 50% of members, 3553 voted in favour of splitting and 324 voted against. In a statement provided by secretary Michael O'Connor, he said that "The TFTU will carry forward the proud traditions of the Manufacturing Division and its predecessor timber, furnishing trade, pulp and paper, and textile, clothing and footwear unions—while forging a bold new path for its members as a proud part of Australia’s trade union movement"