The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) continues its active investigation and prosecution of workplace law breaches, highlighting its important role in upholding compliance.
With the Government set to ramp up its campaign to secure passage of the Ensuring Integrity Bill when Parliament resumes this week, the CFMMEU shows no signs of ceasing its recidivist law-breaking as these fresh allegations demonstrate exactly why the Ensuring Integrity laws are needed.
The latest case is further evidence that Australian businesses and the community need protection from the deliberate and repeated unlawful conduct of unions and their officials.
CFMMEU allegedly targeted crane company without union EA
The ABCC has commenced Federal Court action against the CFMMEU and three of its officials alleging they targeted Newcastle crane company Wheeler Cranes because it did not have an enterprise agreement with the union.
The case is the third the ABCC has filed in recent months involving allegations the union has been targeting New South Wales crane companies to coerce them to sign up to CFMMEU enterprise agreements.
The ABCC is alleging CFMMEU officials Brendan Holl, Justin Hobson and Mikel Dacko organised and took part in unlawful pickets, contravened right of entry laws, and engaged in coercive conduct at three Newcastle building sites, including a high school and TAFE campus.
At the San Clemente High School and Newcastle TAFE sites it’s alleged up to 30 men wearing CFMMEU hoodies and waving banners picketed the sites and intimidated Wheeler Cranes’ workers.
While at the Kooragang Coal Terminal site police were called to attend when union officials refused to leave.
The ABCC alleges the conduct contravenes the coercion and right of entry provisions in the Fair Work Act 2009 and the unlawful picketing and coercion provisions in the Building and Construction Industry Improving Productivity Act 2016 (BCIIP Act).
The maximum penalty for each contravention of the Fair Work Act is $63,000 for a body corporate and $12,600 for an individual. The maximum penalty for each contravention of the BCIIP Act is $210,000 for a body corporate and $42,000 for an individual.
AREEA has long supported passage of the Ensuring Integrity Bill since it was first introduced in 2017. It remains one of eight workplace reform priorities identified for the 46th Parliament in AREEA’s policy booklet Pathway to Productivity.
AREEA will continue to advocate for the important measures within the Ensuring Integrity Bill that will considerably improve our nation’s industrial relations environment and promote greater compliance with industrial laws.
