Unions angry at court ruling that restricts use of iconic Eureka flag

Unionists say it is “deeply offensive” that construction workers have effectively been banned from displaying the Eureka flag at certain worksites.

The Federal Court on Friday ruled companies subject to the Commonwealth building code cannot allow the flag – or any union logos, mottos or insignia – to be displayed on the job, or applied to any clothing, property or equipment supplied to workers.

The code applies to contractors that have tendered for federally funded building work and extends to any private work those companies carry out.

Brett Edgington, secretary of the Ballarat Regional Trades and Labour Council, said unionised construction workers in the regional city had used the Eureka flag since the first Labour Day in 1858.

“You can’t see this in any sort of light but an ideological bent to prevent them from carrying that symbol, which they have proudly rallied under for more than a century,” he said.

Commission to monitor compliance

The Australian Building and Construction Commission took compliance action against contractor Lendlease over the display of union insignia on a multimillion-dollar project at a Monash University campus in Melbourne in 2019.

A Eureka flag was attached to a tower crane on the site, while posters were also put up in a workers’ break room with slogans such as “be paid up and proud” and “we support [CFMMEU Victorian secretary] John Setka”.

The court found the symbols breached a freedom of association clause in the building code.

The commission said it would conduct audits and inspections to monitor compliance but that its approach was “to provide education and assistance”.

“Where breaches are identified, and code-covered entitles fail to rectify code non-compliance, the ABCC will consider further enforcement action on a case-by-case basis,” a spokesman for the commission said.

“The code does not provide any mechanism to issue compliance notices to workers.”

The Australian Council of Trade Unions said the ABCC should instead prioritise workplace safety and reducing deaths in the industry.

Symbol of a city

The Eureka flag is a widely used symbol in Ballarat, where the Eureka stockade miners’ rebellion took place in 1854.

The symbol is incorporated into the logos of public institutions, such as Ballarat City Council and Federation University.

The commission spokesman said the ruling would “have no impact on the City of Ballarat displaying a Eureka flag” as the council was not subject to the federal building code.

Anne Beggs-Sunter, a Ballarat historian with a special interest in the Eureka movement, said a CFMMEU lawyer first contacted her about the case after it was launched almost two years ago.

She said there was “a long history of trying to break union solidarity by trying to ban the use of the Eureka flag”.

“This decision does bring the focus very much on to the fact the flag has, legitimately, for so long, since well back in the 19th century, been used as a symbol of workers’ struggle for better rights, better working conditions,” Dr Beggs-Sunter said.

“I think that’s a very genuine use of the Eureka flag, given what it was originally raised for in Ballarat in November 1854.”

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