Construction workers walk off the job across the country

Thousands of construction workers are today rallying in support of the CFMEU.

Transcript

00:00The turnout in Sydney's CBD has been huge, several thousand construction workers have

00:07turned up here as part of the nationwide strike.

00:10Now they started off in High Park and they made their way down Macquarie Street to outside

00:16New South Wales Parliament.

00:18Now many construction workers have travelled from across New South Wales to be here today

00:22to have their voices heard.

00:24Many say they're frustrated and they're calling on the Federal Government to put the CFMEU

00:29back into union hands.

00:31Now the timing of this is all really interesting in New South Wales.

00:35Two key New South Wales union figures fronted court today.

00:40They're accused of soliciting and accepting payments from a building company owner in

00:44exchange of preferential treatment from the union and access to building contracts.

00:49That was Darren Greenfield and Michael Greenfield.

00:52Now the police presence has also been pretty large here on Macquarie Street which has also

00:57been shut off.

00:58We've had mounted police units, helicopters in the sky and also police officers on the

01:04ground.

01:05At the moment the situation seems to be quite calm and under control but as with these types

01:10of rallies things can change very quickly.

01:13The public are also being urged to avoid the area.