Martin Ferguson labelled a 'traitor' by MUA branch over Fair Work comments

Updated

Martin Ferguson's push for industrial relations reform has sparked an angry outburst from his brother and a call for the former minister to be kicked out of the Labor Party.

Mr Ferguson, who was the resources minister in the Rudd-Gillard governments and retired from politics at the last election, has highlighted the behaviour of the West Australian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA).

He says the MUA is a "job-killing" and "rogue" union, and is making a case for a review of Labor's workplace laws and tougher action on unions.

But the MUA has hit back, calling him a "traitor" who should be kicked out of the Labor Party.

Mr Ferguson, who now chairs an advisory board for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA), spoke in Perth on Friday calling for both unions and workplace laws to change in order to address rising unemployment and boost productivity.

Mr Ferguson said unless the unions were tackled and excessive wages reduced, more Australian jobs would go offshore.

He also said the MUA's WA branch had blocked equipment from reaching the massive Gorgon gas project, which had blown out the project's costs and timelines.

"I think the Maritime Union WA branch is a rogue union," he said.

"I think they are not only potentially going to kill jobs for their own members, children and grandchildren in the future in the way they've conducted themselves, I think it's about time the rest of the union movement fronted up to the fact that they are now killing jobs in manufacturing."

Martin Ferguson's brother angered by comments

Christy Cain from the MUA's WA branch says Mr Ferguson has sold out to the gas and oil companies.

"My personal view is that he should be expelled from the ALP and he is a traitor to the working class people of this country," he said.

Mr Ferguson's brother, Laurie Ferguson, who is the federal member for the outer Sydney seat of Werriwa, says he is "diametrically opposed" to his brother's views on a wide variety of issues.

Laurie Ferguson says he does not want to air the family's internal conflicts in public but was angered by his brother's decision to invoke his father's legacy during his speech.

Laurie Ferguson says his father was a lifelong member of the building union and would never have supported wage repression or associated himself with calls to restrict the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU).

"This whole slant from the big end of town that every sacking in this country is justified by a failure of the Australian workers to go down to Vietnamese and Cambodian levels of wages is totally incorrect," Laurie Ferguson told News Radio.

Abbott praises Martin Ferguson, but rules out changes

Martin Ferguson wants Prime Minister Tony Abbott to go further than his planned changes in industrial relations because he says they are only "modest".

But Mr Abbott said he would not seek to change any industrial laws outside of his pre-election commitments.

"I have a high regard for Martin Ferguson. Martin Ferguson was one of the very serious people for the Labor Party in the Parliament," he said.

Mr Abbott said he was personally "very disappointed" when Martin Ferguson decided to leave the Parliament in 2013 and welcomed his latest comments.

"I think he's made a very important and valuable contribution to the debate, but what we will be doing is implementing the policies that we took to the election," he told reporters in Darwin.

One of the Government's policies is to restore the construction industry watchdog - the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) - which was established by the Howard government but abolished by Labor.

The Greens and Labor are blocking the legislation to reinstate the ABCC in the Senate.

Mr Ferguson says it did act as a "policeman on the beat" and had an impact on cleaning up corruption within the construction industry.

But he said unions also benefited from the Commission.

"[It's] a mechanism that holds both sides to account and which can help deliver projects on time and on budget," he said.

Topics: industrial-relations, business-economics-and-finance, unions, alp, federal-government, australia

First posted