A crackdown on criminal behaviour within the CFMEU is expected to be given the green light and seal the construction union’s fate.

Laws giving the minister the power to put the troubled construction and general division and associated state branches into administration are expected to pass the Senate on Thursday after tense negotiations between Labor and the coalition.

It follows allegations of organised crime and corruption within the CFMEU’s construction arm.

Opposition workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash called for a tougher crackdown, including a minimum three-year administration period that the minister could not cut short and a ban on political donations and campaigning. 

A number of the coalition’s concerns have since been addressed in government and opposition amendments.

The three-year administration period has been extended to five and the minister won’t be able to vary the scheme without a request from the administrator after the coalition argued the government had too much power to end the process.

It’s expected the union will not be able to donate to political parties or run political campaigns but will still be free to move on workers’ rights issues.

Labor and its state branches have suspended ties with affiliated CFMEU arms and stopped donations.

The administrator will report to parliament every six months but a coalition push to hold public inquiries that would haul officials before parliamentarians is not expected to pass.

State union branches are also expected to be able to come out of administration ahead of others and the national division if they receive a clean bill of health as opposed to a blanket takeover.

Union officials who obstruct or frustrate the process will face substantial fines or two years behind bars.

Criminals weeded out of the union will also face life bans from holding office within a registered organisation without being granted a “fair and proper person certificate” from the Fair Work Commission.

Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt called on the opposition and Greens to waive the bill through and not let the union off the hook.

“In terms of the amendments the coalition has put forward, many of them were already dealt with in the bill, and we have proposed a number of amendments that deal with the remainder of the issues,” he told AAP.

“So there’s no reason at all for the coalition to hold out.”

The legislation will need to be ticked off by the government-controlled lower house once they pass a split Senate before becoming law.

This post was originally published on Michael West.