I remember imploring a former CFMEU official to ditch John Setka.

How did it look, I asked, to back a man who had pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to harass his wife? How did it look to back a man who had publicly said that the work of Rosie Batty, the mother of a murdered child and former Australian of the Year, had led to men having fewer rights?

In his time leading the CFMEU’s Victorian branch, John Setka was critical of former Australian of the Year Rosie Batty.Credit: Michael Quelch, Alex Ellinghausen

How did it look? Never mind how it looked. What did it say about the union movement? What did it say to women in this country? Powerful men hold on to power, no matter how they treat women.

Turns out the union movement itself was divided. A handful were deep-seated enablers of Setka, who backed him and his capos whatever. There were also high-profile women and men who wanted him and his ways gone from the movement forever, and low-profile ones who are right now too frightened to speak out.

Tomcats leave a stink long after they are gone. Some people, like ACTU leaders Sally McManus and Michele O’Neil, felt strong enough to speak out publicly and call for Setka to step down. Others worked tirelessly, quietly, to move on the man they considered toxic to the modern workplace.

Now, fingers crossed, he has finally gone.

Setka, who ran the Victorian branch of the CFMEU with an iron bar, resigned on Friday,........

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