CFMEU leaders including Darren Greenfield stage secret meeting ...

One industry source said the union had “gone rogue” and another likened the situation to “the Wild West – where’s the new sheriff?”

Master Builders Association chief executive Denita Wawn, whose group advised contractors not to let workers attend Tuesday’s rally, said walkouts to attend the protest were “likely unprotected action”.

“Given their purpose, the public should expect the support of a strong police presence,” she said.

Former CFMEU assistant secretaries Michael Greenfield and Rob Kera arrive for the delegates meeting on Monday.  

A spokesman for the CFMEU, which is under the control of the administrator, said: “The CFMEU is no longer involved in organising any protest tomorrow”.

“People have a democratic right to peaceful protest. However, the taking of unprotected industrial action is not lawful.”

Several union and industry sources said CFMEU delegates were told at the meeting that workers on Multiplex sites, such as the new Western Sydney Airport terminal and the state government’s new Sydney Fish Market redevelopment, would be “put in the sheds” in response to the builder backing out of the union’s latest enterprise agreement. Multiplex declined to comment.

Branch organisers were still answering to the former CFMEU leadership, one source said.

Darren Greenfield, his son Michael Greenfield and ex-state assistant secretary Rob Kera were photographed entering the Maritime Union of Australia headquarters on Sussex Street on Monday morning for the CFMEU crisis meeting.

They attended despite CFMEU administrator Mark Irving, KC sacking Darren Greenfield and Mr Kera from their union leadership positions effectively immediately last Friday morning. Michael Greenfield quit his deputy position two weeks ago.

Union sources said the meeting was organised at the headquarters of the MUA – which also opposes the administration – to avoid photographers at the CFMEU’s office in Pyrmont.

Sacked CFMEU NSW secretary Darren Greenfield (left) talks to MUA Sydney secretary Paul Keating outside the Sussex St meeting.  

Mr Greenfield was also seen talking to MUA Sydney branch secretary Paul Keating in a back alley outside the meeting venue. Both dashed inside when they saw the photographer.

MUA national secretary Paddy Crumlin said the union’s conference rooms were used by all sorts of groups and “the last time we checked, the MUA and every Australian citizen has the right to meet to express their opinion on matters of public policy”.

“It is not yet illegal for workers to discuss and form a collective political position on a matter that goes to the heart of their rights as Australian citizens,” he said.

“This morning’s meeting was not organised by the MUA and there have been similar meetings and other forms of communication around the country, and internationally, about how the terms of administration would impinge and affect the principles of natural justice, due process and judicial transparency.”

On Friday afternoon, Darren Greenfield, Mr Kera and president Rita Mallia also sent out a statement through CFMEU social media to criticise the administration, using their official titles despite their sackings. That statement has since been removed.

Other CFMEU branches have posted details of Tuesday’s rally over the weekend on official union Facebook channels.

Under the Albanese government’s anti-avoidance laws for the CFMEU administration, the administrator can apply to the courts to impose civil penalties on any individual who tries or is “involved in” undermining the work of the administrator, and can even seek criminal penalties if that is the sole or dominant purpose of their actions.

The MBA NSW told members on Monday it remained to be seen whether Tuesday’s rallies could constitute conduct that prevented the administrator from effectively administering the scheme.

“However, given the rally is a protest against the validity or rightness of the scheme itself, it is possible that the rally and/or participation in the rally, may breach the anti-avoidance provisions,” it said.

The Minns government has yet to put the state-registered CFMEU NSW – operating under antiquated state industrial laws – into administration and NSW Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis is still reviewing the orders to do so.

The state-registered entity holds at least $38 million from the sale of the CFMEU’s Lidcombe headquarters in 2017 and Darren Greenfield is also an official of that entity.

But government sources said the minister needed time to align the state scheme with the federal scheme and the orders were not expected until as late as Wednesday.

Some lawyers believe the administrator’s ousting of CFMEU NSW leaders from their federally registered branch positions automatically ousts them from the state-registered entity.

However, others said the matter was more complex and the two entities were separate legal entities.

Mr Irving is understood to have appointed former Unions NSW assistant secretary Chris Christodoulou to take over the NSW branch, and founding secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union Grahame McCulloch – a former communist – is believed to be taking over the Victorian branch.

A joint investigation by The Australian Financial Review, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes reported on Monday that the CFMEU NSW branch repeatedly promoted scaffolding firm Synergy on major government projects despite a catastrophic safety record and alleged links to a bikie boss and other underworld figures.

A spokesman for Ms Cotsis said the NSW government’s construction compliance unit “is investigating the issues raised in the media concerning Synergy Scaffolding”.