The Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) continues its active investigation and prosecution of workplace law breaches, highlighting its important role in upholding compliance.

The Federal Court last week imposed penalties totaling $69,000 against the CFMMEU and its shop steward Kevin Pattinson for preventing an apprentice and electrician from working on a Frankston construction site because they were not members of the union.

Mr Pattinson admitted that on 13 September 2018 he approached the apprentice and the electrician during a site induction at the Monash Peninsula Student Accommodation Project, and asked them about their union membership:

Mr Pattinson: Are you union? Do you have a ticket for your fees? Have you paid your fees?

Electrician: No, we’re not a union-based company so we don’t have our ticket.

Mr Pattinson then misrepresented to the workers that in order to perform work on the site, they had to become a member of the union. As a result, the apprentice and electrician were prevented from performing work on the site.

The Court penalised the CFMMEU the equivalent of a single maximum penalty of $63,000, and penalised Mr Pattinson $6,000 for the conduct.

In handing down his judgment today Justice Snaden said:

…The Union is a “serial offender” that has, over a long period, exhibited a willingness to contravene workplace laws in the service of its industrial objectives; and one that appears to treat the imposition of financial penalties in respect of those contraventions as little more than the cost of its preferred business model.

ABCC Deputy Commissioner Matt Kelleher said the case was just one of the many the agency has come across where workers have been pressured to join the CFMMEU as a condition of work.

“I note the Court’s comments on the CFMMEU’s history of engaging in unlawful conduct with a view to maintaining a ‘no ticket, no start’ policy on building sites around the country,” Mr Kelleher said.

“All workers have a right to choose whether or not they want to become a member of a union. That right is protected by the law.

“Workers cannot be prevented by union officials or anyone else from working on an Australian building and construction site because they are not a union member. A ‘no ticket, no start’ policy is unlawful.

“The Court noted that the CFMMEU in particular ‘regards the imposition of penalties as an acceptable cost of the manner in which it chooses to operate’. It is regrettable that members’ hard earned money continues to be used to pay for this unlawful conduct.”

Aldi blockade leads to $80,000 penalty for CFMMEU, personal payment order for organiser

The Federal Court last week awarded penalties totalling $92,000 against the CFMMEU and an experienced organiser for their involvement in a blockade of Aldi’s Altona store during its construction in 2014.

The blockade followed the CFMMEU’s demands that the construction company sign an enterprise agreement with the union.

On 5 December 2014, CFMMEU organiser Drew MacDonald blocked the entrance to the site with a vehicle, preventing trucks carrying equipment and materials from accessing the site.

As a result of the blockade, work including the installation of precast concrete panels, structural steel work and concrete preparation work could not proceed.

On 8 December 2014, Mr MacDonald again blocked the entrance to the site with a vehicle, preventing work including excavation and form work for a concrete pour, and structural steel work.

The CFMMEU was penalised $80,000, and Mr MacDonald $12,000. Justice Bromberg also ordered Mr MacDonald to personally pay his penalty.

The personal payment order is one of now six imposed by the Federal Court in a building and construction related matter and the second involving Mr MacDonald.

The Federal Court previously imposed a personal payment order of $7,800 on Mr MacDonald on 21 June 2019 for his involvement in right of entry contraventions at construction sites in Laverton North and Cheltenham.

CFMMEU and its site delegate to face court for allegedly coercing worker to join union on Sunshine Coast site

The ABCC has taken legal action against the CFMMEU and its delegate James Fissenden alleging in March this year they threatened to prevent a shopfitter from working at the Sunshine Plaza Shopping Centre site in Maroochydore until he joined the union.

At the time of the alleged conduct, the shopping centre was undergoing an extension that involved the construction of about 80 new retail tenancies.

The worker had been engaged by a shopfitting company that was undertaking fit outs for four retailers at the site.
In a statement of claim filed in the Federal Court in Brisbane the ABCC alleges:

• On 8 March 2019, Mr Fissenden asked the shopfitting company’s director for a list of workers rostered for the weekend so he could “get approval”.
• Mr Fissenden later had a conversation with one of the shopfitter’s to the effect:

Mr Fissenden: I don’t have a record of you as a member.

Shopfitter: Yes, you signed me up.  When I was working on stage 1.

Mr Fissenden: I remember you now.  You were that cheeky f….ing little c..t who refused to be part of the union.  You’re a grubby little c..t.  I remember tearing your papers up.

• Mr Fissenden then continued the conversation with the director of the shopfittting company to the effect:

Mr Fissenden: You’re not working Sunday. I’m not going to approve you to work Sunday until this grubby little c..t joins the union.

Mr Fissenden: Unless we get $625.20, I am going down to me office now, in the next 15 minutes, you will not be working on Sunday.

• Mr Fissenden threatened to prevent the shopfitting company from undertaking work at the site on 10 March 2019 until the worker’s union fees were paid.
• Other workers employed by the shopfitting company were only allowed to work on 10 March 2019 after the company paid the $625.20 CFMMEU membership fee.

The ABCC alleges the conduct in this case contravenes the coercion and adverse action provisions in the Fair Work Act.
The maximum penalty for a contravention under the Fair Work Act is $63,000 for a body corporate and $12,600 for an individual.

The ABCC remains in place to ensure building and construction industry participants’ compliance with Australia’s workplace laws.

As a consistent supporter of the ABCC since it was first recommended by the Cole Royal Commission in 2003, AREEA recently provided input into a review of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 (BCIIP Act), reiterating industry’s support for the regulator’s retention.

Further, AREEA continues to support the passage of the “Ensuring Integrity Bill”, which contains various measures seeking to lift the standards, behaviours and transparency of all registered organisations including trade unions and registered employer groups.

For more information contact [email protected]