Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is Australia's main trade union in construction, forestry and furnishing products, mining and energy production.
The CFMEU has offices in all capital cities in Australia and in many major regional centres with the national office of the union in Melbourne. The union has an estimated 120,000 members and employs around 400 full-time staff and officials.
Divisions
The CFMEU is structured into three main divisions being the Construction and General Division, the Mining and Energy Division and the Forestry and Furnishing Products Division. Each division operates largely autonomously.
Construction and General Division
History
The Construction and General Division was formed in the early 1990s with the creation of the national CFMEU. This was part of the ACTU inspired union rationalisation process. 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 (OPDU) carried resolutions calling for a single industry union to be created as early as the 1920s. The rationale behind this policy position was the logical view that members would be better represented by a larger industry based union rather than the traditional craft unions.
