After her son passed away during his first shift at a CFMEU government job, a Melbourne mother is calling for change.
According to Tammie Palmer Ben, an 18-year-old with mental health concerns, was killed by bullying.
The worker from Ringwood North started working on a CFMEU site on January 1st. That evening, he overdosed and died before turning nineteen.
“They locked him in a shed for three or four hours – just a young boy, with mental health issues,” Palmer stated.
Palmer claimed her son, a proud Gunditjmara youngster, was subjected to constant bullying because he was wearing the shirt of a small Indigenous construction company he had previously worked for.
The CFMEU disputes Palmer’s accusations. She said that the company’s affiliation with the AWU, a rival union, was the reason the CFMEU didn’t like it.
Palmer remarked, “None of this would be a problem if Ben had another shirt on.”
Videos that Mark News was able to collect show Ben’s previous boss from the same Indigenous company being treated similarly by a CFMEU representative at a different location.
“He would have felt worthless, useless, like he’d done something wrong,” Palmer stated.
A months-long investigation by that, 60 Minutes, and Nine newspapers revealed that the type of poisonous worksite culture begins at the top.
Security footage shows former CFMEU president John Setka throwing a bag outside the residence of top union leader Leo Skourdoumbis with the words “Leo the dog” scribbled on it.
“I think the message is quite clear and that was – you speak out against us, we know where you are – and we can get to you,” Skourdoumbis stated to 60 Minutes.
Setka declared, “Once again youse have put sauce on everything,” and added that the assertions were “more false allegations.”
Palmer is coming up because she wants change, even in spite of safety concerns.
“They can’t hurt me more than I’m already hurting,” Palmer stated. It’s not difficult to treat people with love and respect when they go to work. “All he wanted to do was work.”
The football club has already made mental health a top priority. Chris Leahy of the North Ringwood Junior Football Club stated, “We’re starting to find that a lot of the families are starting to engage directly with us, because the football club is a place of sanctuary for them.”
John Setka stated on Friday that he would resign as the Victorian secretary of the CFMEU, effective immediately, according to the union.
