John Setka union ally Christy Cain moves closer to running CFMMEU

Mr O’Connor resigned late last year before a vote by unionists allied to Mr Setka, the Victorian construction secretary of the CFMMEU, to push him out amid a long-running internal conflict.

It was sparked by Mr Setka’s belief that others in the union had done too little to support him against calls for his resignation after a 2019 conviction for harassing his wife in a series of text messages.

One claim Mr Setka’s backers levelled against Mr O’Connor, the brother of federal Labor frontbencher Brendan O’Connor, is that he had a conflict of interest by representing both the manufacturing division and running the national union, which the maritime union’s statement revives.

However, the union’s rules state that only the boss of one of the divisions is eligible for the national secretary position, which could cause legal problems for Mr Cain because he does not hold such a role. He declined to comment, as did Mr O’Connor.

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The maritime union celebrated Mr Cain’s likely transition into the national secretary role, which could be enabled by a change to the union’s rules.

“Comrade Chris Cain is now effectively the national secretary-elect of the CFMMEU, bringing to the job MUA values and the determination to make our broader union a fighting organisation that provides leadership to working people and the entire trade union movement,” the union’s message to members reads.

Mr Cain called on Labor leader Anthony Albanese to consider resigning in June 2019 after he moved to expel Mr Setka from the ALP for comments he made about anti-domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty, which Mr Cain said were “misconstrued… false allegations”.

He is also in conflict with West Australian Labor Premier Mark McGowan over plans to build a more automated port in the state.

In a Facebook post in December, Mr Cain said Mr Setka was one of the “most fair dinkum union people in this country”.

Mr Cain’s move triggered a round of appointments within the maritime union at its national, Sydney, West Australian and South Australian offices.