CFMEU bosses hit with huge court fines for a threatening builders at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital

THE construction union and its bosses have been hit with tens of thousands in court fines for threatening builders at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital with industrial action of “Armageddon’’ proportions.

David Nankervis

2 min read

January 19, 2017 - 9:00PM

The latest fines of $57,500 takes the total court-imposed penalties against the SA branch of the CFMEU to more than $1.1 million in the past 12 months.

Federal Court Justice Anthony Besanko found the union’s state secretary Aaron Cartledge and assistant secretary Michael McDermott guilty of making threats at the new Royal Adelaide Hospital site.

Justice Besanko fined the union $50,000 and Mr Cartledge and Mr McDermott $3750 each in sentencing on Thursday.

The Australian Building Construction commission had claimed in court the pair threatened industrial action during a meeting at the new RAH site after two cranes collided in November 2013.

During the meeting, Mr Cartledge and Mr McDermott threatened to organise industrial action at the site, if management enforced a Fair Work Commission order from September 2013 that required employees to not take industrial action.

Timelapse shows 12 months of work on new RAH

Mr McDermott threatened “if you try anything there will be Armageddon”, while Mr Cartledge said “all hell will break loose and we will take this national” if the builder took steps to enforce the order.

In handing down Thursday’s penalties, Justice Besanko noted the CFMEU’s “significant record of non-compliance” with workplace laws, particular those provisions relating to coercion.

ABCC Commissioner Nigel Hadgkiss said it was disappointing that anyone in the building

and construction industry should be subjected to threats and intimidation.

“Unfortunately, the conduct we’ve seen in this case is not isolated, but instead reflects a

widespread contempt for the rule of law that pervades the industry,” he said.

“This decision means $1,126,600 in penalties have been imposed by the Federal Court

against the CFMEU and its representatives for proven unlawful conduct that occurred across

Adelaide in a nine-month period.”

Mr Cartledge said the latest case was part of an ongoing campaign motivated by the “ideological wing of the Federal Liberal Party’’ which made him “angry and disappointed’’.

“This is while the industry is in disarray with the exploitation of Chinese workers and subcontractors being underpaid,’’ he said.

“In SA we have faced 23 odd cases and not one employer has been in court for underpaying workers or builders ripping off contractors,’’ he said.

Mr Cartledge said the court fines had forced the union to “adjust’’ the way it approached representing its workers on sites which had given a “green light to builders to continue ripping off workers’’.