A powerful construction union has spectacularly quit Labor's left faction in Queensland, about two months out from the state election, labelling it a "protection racket" for "dud" politicians.
The Queensland branch of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) released a damning statement this morning, criticising Labor left for a lack of leadership and inability to advocate for working class Queenslanders.
CFMEU construction division secretary Michael Ravbar said the split would take effect immediately.
"The leadership vacuum in the left has seen a once powerful voice for working Queenslanders atrophy to the point where today it is little more than a creche for party hacks," he said.
"The left factional leadership have consistently devoted far more energy to internal intrigues and power plays than to driving a policy platform that reflects both socially and economically progressive values.
"In the process, the faction has become little more than a protection racket for dud members such as Jackie Trad, who as former deputy [premier] bears much of the blame for the failure to look after workers' interests even on major public projects such as Cross River Rail.
"Quite simply, the so-called left faction is now merely an impotent and self-serving echo chamber for a cabal of Peel Street elite who have totally lost touch with their working class roots."

Ms Trad declined to comment on the matter.

The Union's mining representative but would financially back individual candidates.

"We've got a clear direction from our membership about donating to the Labor party or any political party," he said.
"We'll support candidates who have the same principals and objectives of our members ... but
"The Labor party has lost its way in that it's not standing up for blue-collar workers and families in the community."
'I expect they will continue to campaign with us': Miles
The Union has traditionally been a strong advocate for Labor, galvanising its members to campaign for the party ahead of state elections.
Mr Ravbar said the CFMEU would not campaign on behalf of the Government before the October 31 poll.

"Historically the CFMEU has been a big supporter of the ALP. If you're talking about federal or state or local government, you're probably talking millions of dollars."
But Mr Ravbar stopped short of cutting ties with the ALP completely.
"At the end of the day we still want to remain within the party," Mr Ravbar said.
"We just don't walk away from a fight or a belief that you need to govern for all, not just a select few."
The CFMEU has been publicly warring with Labor for more than a year now, over concerns about the Government's flagship infrastructure project, Cross River Rail.

At the time, the trade union provocatively declared Ms Trad was "no friend of the worker" — a bold accusation for the party that prides itself on its blue-collar worker roots.

Ms Trad was later stripped of her Cross River Rail portfolio and was dropped from cabinet earlier this year, following a Crime and Corruption Commission investigation into an unrelated matter.
When Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was today asked if she thought she had any dud politicians in her team, she responded, "No I don't".
"All the unions play a vital role," she said.

The left faction's most senior Government minister, Deputy Premier Steven Miles said he expected the union would still support Labor during the October poll.
"Well I understand they're staying affiliated with the Labor party, I expect they would continue to campaign with us at the election because they know that it's the Labor party who works with them to support jobs in their industries," he said.

I've been saying for a very long time now that the problem is not the ALP's addiction to the Unions - but rather the Union's addiction to the New ALP which frankly doesn't give a rat's posterior about them and their members as long as it can push its gynocentric and wopocentric etc agenda (et cetera, et cetera, et cetera)....

New ALP are Stalinists who believe firmly in their own total control, which attitude has pervaded the Union movement as well since the early 1990's - whereas the Unions are essentially Trotskyite in that they believe in the power of the common person in the group rather than the elitist stance of New Labour and the New ACTU governed by sheilas.... as began in the early 1990's under the same old disguise of 'equal employment opportunity' - meaning preference would be given to women, wops and wobbly English speakers... and a few Indigenes if at all.

I use these only as facile labels to .... essentially in this context ENL and ENACTU are Bolsheviks - the minority taking over the reins by force from the Menshevik Unions, the majority.

This elitist stance is precisely that of the Pre-Revolution Marxists, with their somewhat incredible belief that they alone were 'The People', whereas the common herd were just that - the common herd of cattle - socially, intellectually and politically inferior and of no value other than as servants of the state to be disposed and disposed of at the whim of the State... see Stalinism and the Great Patriotic War etc, Cambodia, the CCP and so forth....

Do I take that as agreement?

I modified it a bit - might be a little clearer.

I'm saying, in keeping with Leninist/Marxist history - the ALP and the ACTU these days consider themselves an elite and above the considerations of the common Union person... capisce?  They are more interested in their personal advancement and self-enrichment and their chosen ideology, and in having no time for the petty considerations of the common herd worker, rather than watching over the interests and concerns of the little people - the ones for whom I stand four square.

Capisce?

The CFFMEU apparently agree, at least as regards State New Labor, but I'm sure that, given time, they'll work out the New ACTU as well.

Poor union lover Greggy is living 50 years ago in the past.

Unions today have almost no members anymore and are turning to corporate things like industrial Super to stop themselves going bankrupt.

A union's main function these days is to make workers lose their jobs with their excessive wage demands and demands for unrealistic conditions. Think Ford and Holden and Toyota that the unions chased out of Australia.

The unions are still supporting Whitlam's LIMA Agreement where Australian jobs are sent overseas. And the Chinese are very likely bribing the unions to do this.