Answer extracted from the Creatures of the Industry podcast — listen to the full episode below.
How has worker solidarity shifted in Melbourne construction over 20 years?
Union membership has shifted from a foundation of shared values and workplace comradeship to a purely transactional relationship driven by money and hourly rates. On major projects like the Metro Tunnel, workers no longer experience the meaningful interaction with colleagues that once defined construction culture. As Riggs observes, "the brothers have just had it too good for too long and they've lost perspective"—union solidarity no longer binds workers through adversity, but rather fragments them into individual wage-seekers.
From comradeship to cash transactions
The transformation reflects a fundamental rupture in how construction workers relate to their labour and to each other. Where earlier generations understood union membership as a collective commitment rooted in shared struggle and mutual protection, current workers treat it as a contractual arrangement focused on extracting maximum hourly compensation.
This shift extends beyond attitude to material working conditions. As Terry Riggs explains in the podcast, the majority of a construction worker's wage is not the hourly rate itself but the overtime and conditions stacked on top—a reality that has reshaped how workers calculate value and view their union membership.
Loss of adversity as social glue
Earlier periods of construction work were marked by hazardous conditions that forged genuine workplace bonds. Meaningful interaction with workmates through shared hardship created the foundation of construction culture. These bonds were not sentimental—they were survival mechanisms born from industry-wide dangers, from the scaffolding heights to the refinery heat.
The contemporary construction worker, particularly on high-profile projects like the Metro Tunnel, no longer experiences this crucible. Without that shared adversity, the social fabric that once held workers together has unravelled. The result is what Riggs terms the absence of "solidarity and no comradeship"—a workplace stripped of the collective identity that once transcended individual wages.
"The brothers have just had it too good for too long and they've lost perspective."
Terry Riggs — Scaffolder and Health and Safety Representative, Metro Tunnel. With decades of experience spanning major heavy industry projects from Shell refinery upgrades to the Northwest Shelf industrial complexes, Riggs has witnessed construction culture across multiple generations. He trained as an occupational health and safety representative under the Occupational Health and Safety Act introduced by the Cain government in 1985, and holds an associate diploma in occupational health and safety from Holmesglen TAFE.
For a deeper exploration of how economic pressure and industrial restructuring have affected worker practices across different construction contexts, listen to Riggs' discussion of casualization and wage fragmentation on the Port Hedland project in the late 1990s, where workers were paid at half a dozen different rates despite doing identical work.
See also
What structural safety management failures have been observed at major oil and gas companies claiming world-class safety practices?
Riggs criticizes both Woodside and Esso for maintaining 'world's best safety practice' documentation that remained unused in folders on shelves, revealing a gap between stated safety culture and actual workplace conditions.
How did the Longford Gas Plant disaster in 1998 create employment opportunities and change working conditions for construction workers in Gippsland?
After the Longford gas plant explosion that killed five people, Riggs secured work with Fleur Daniel on the remediation and construction job, demonstrating how major industrial accidents reshape the labour market and employment patterns.
What were the working conditions and labour practices on a 2,000-person industrial project in Port Hedland during the late 1990s?
The Port Hedland project was highly casualized and de-unionized with no union solidarity whatsoever. Workers were paid at half a dozen different rates, fragmenting the collective workforce and undermining traditional union protections.