NT members joined a small farewell function for  Organiser Bob Wade on Friday January 29, to thank Bob for his support over the past couple of years and wish him well on his new ‘adventure’ with Cbus.

Bob came to Darwin from the CFMEU WA Branch, where he was the North West organiser for more than 16 years.  His experience there came in very handy in the Northern Territory’s tough, anti-union working environment. 

Bob’s assignment was to train up local ceiling fixer, Mick Huddy, as a CFMEU organiser and to strengthen the NT Branch.

Together they have been making significant in-roads into the industry over the past two-and-a-half years. 

‘The construction union is now firmly on the map. We got the white card introduced two years ahead of what the Government had planned and the upgrading of the OHS laws, including right of entry for union organisers investigating safety breaches, ’ said Bob. ‘And the CFMEU sits on a number of Government committees related to the industry and will continue to make submissions and knock on government doors to get positive changes for members.’

CFMEU NT also holds regular monthly meetings for members and while there was work around, ‘we were getting a good response,’ Mick added.

However, the down-turn in construction in Darwin has had an effect on the Branch. ‘There are just three tower cranes here at the moment. The place is suffering a big downturn but we expect it will pick up in the future,’ Bob said.

So when the opportunity arose, it seemed a good time for him to move to Cbus.

Union will keep on fighting

 ‘Once work picks up again, CFMEU NT can only go from strength to strength, with more members getting more active and taking up the fight together with the union to make the most of the new workplace and safety laws,’ said Bob.

 ‘The NT Branch has a great organiser in Mick Huddy who’ll continue to represent members’ interests strongly and fight to bring the NT construction industry up to national standards.’

Top of the list this year is the definition of a worker for the purposes of Workers’ Compensation so that ABN holders are not excluded. The majority of NT construction workers are forced to take out ABNs to get a job. Watch this website and join Branch meetings to hear more about developments on that issue.

A life-time of service

Meanwhile, the CFMEU thanks Bob Wade for nearly 30 years’ service as a union organiser.

Bob has given a life-time to advancing the interests of the working class.  He acknowledges his father’s influence – ‘he was a boiler-maker welder and heavily involved in the union movement’.

As a builders’ labourer, Bob was elected co-delegate in the Latrobe Valley, at just 17 years of age. ‘When we migrated out here, we were in the Nissen huts in Melbourne and then moved up to the Valley’ – where Bob got his first start. But he has followed the work all round Australia and over to New Zealand, where he worked in the early 1970s in New Plymouth and was also the union delegate.

CFMEU members will continue to see Bob around the traps in the Northern Territory in his role as a Cbus Coordinator.  The union also wishes him well in his new job.