Leaked footage shows robber-turned CFMEU official intimidating traffic management workers in union power play

The CFMEU is pushing into WA’s traffic management industry in a strategic power play that could see the union control roads leading to construction sites. And the organisation’s tactics have been laid bare in footage and staff complaints leaked to The West Australian that show a criminal turned union official in a heated confrontation with workers at a traffic management company. Officials at the WA branch of CFMEU — which is being formally investigated over alleged criminal underworld links — are eyeing off thousands of workers who hold the stop-go signs which regulate traffic into and out of building sites. Businesses fear the recruiting drive will allow the union to throttle any construction project in the State without having to step foot onto a construction project. Master Builders Association WA chief executive Matt Moran said the union power grab would cost the construction industry time and money. “The last thing the building and construction industry needs is more productivity roadblocks and cost hikes,” he said. “The CFMEU’s capture of traffic controllers by their pattern EBA wages agreement increases costs for the civil sector by 25 per cent — according to the Civil Contractors Federation.” The 25 per cent increase is due to changed wages and conditions and the loss of productivity. “This is now the benchmark for wages and conditions on all State-funded projects, including schools and police stations, from 2026,” Mr Moran said. “It is critical to deliver public projects in a cost-effective and timely manner.” The West Australian has also obtained footage and complaints made by staff over one-time armed robber-turned union official Nathan Fisher confronting staff at a traffic management company’s office. Mr Fisher — who was with his friend Glenn Gordon — yelled at a manager, threw paperwork and called a black employee “junior” during the encounter in Perth’s eastern suburbs in April. “Nathan asked if I could speak to him for ‘five minutes’. I told him that I was not available, and that he would have to make an appointment,” the duty manger said. “I reached for the door handle, but couldn’t pull the door closed, as Glenn was holding it. “Nathan raised his voice at me, speaking aggressively to repeat the same things as above, and also made a comment about how we pay our workers. “As he was speaking, he threw the forms in my direction, and they fell inside the office door on the ground.” The argument was heard by other staff in the office, with one worker walking to the front door to investigate. “We were alerted the volume and tone of the discussion was becoming heated,” the worker wrote in an email detailing the incident. “I proceeded to the front door. Nathan was still displaying an aggressive stance and tone toward her. “My response the conversation is loud and aggressive. His response ‘You don’t know what you are talking about junior’. “At this point I did not see an outcome where Nathan would be able to calm down and converse appropriately, therefore I had reached for the door Glen was trying to hold and proceed to close it.” CFMEU State secretary Mick Buchan said the union rejected any suggestion Mr Fisher acted innappropriately. “A member was being treated unfairly by his employer and the organiser acted appropriately in standing up for his rights,” Mr Buchan said. “This is made clear from the video. We strongly reject the allegations.” The WA branch is fighting for its life after coming under formal investigation over its alleged links to the criminal underworld and suspicions of standover tactics. The hard-hitting lawyer who reported on the CFMEU’s connections to bikies and gangsters in the Eastern States is in Perth digging for dirt on the union. Construction companies were told of the inquiry last week, two days after The West Australian revealed secret deals between the CFMEU and builders, which some companies likened to a mafia shakedown. Those so-called memorandums of understanding, which force companies to negotiate directly with a union official who was a former cage-fighting street gangster, challenged the WA CFMEU’s reputation as a relatively unsullied clean operation. The Federal CFMEU and some other State chapters were thrown into administration a year ago after they were exposed as being riddled with bikies and gangsters but WA was left alone.