Mass redundancies and sackings loom in CFMEU clean-out

CFMEU leader Zach Smith has flagged mass redundancies and fresh sackings as he moves to systematically clean out the union’s scandal-tainted Victorian branch.

The dramatic move comes amid the abrupt removal of high-ranking official Steve Long, who has been forced from the troubled union amid allegations of corruption and conflicts of interest stemming from the union’s involvement in a storied football club.

In an address to all union staff on Wednesday morning Smith, who is the key Victorian director for the administrator Mark Irving, KC, said organisers and union staff would be offered redundancies.

Smith said some of those that did not take redundancies would face sacking as the union moved to clean out its ranks amid months of revelations of wrongdoing, corruption and ongoing gangland infiltration.

The major changes at the union come as Victoria Police charged disgraced former CFMEU boss John Setka with using a carriage service to harass Irving’s administration.

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Although there is no proven wrongdoing and Long strongly contested the allegations, three union sources said Irving’s administration had delivered the veteran union boss an ultimatum: take a redundancy or be sacked.

Long is the second union boss to be recently promoted into a CFMEU leadership and reform role by Smith, only to be removed, after the recent sacking of Long’s fellow union boss John Perkovic.

Perkovic was removed late last month after this masthead uncovered evidence he had been allegedly bribed by building firms.

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