Opinion: Militant union ‘infiltrated’ Government department

Parliament has been told the militant CFMMEU “infiltrated” a State Governmemt department to attack non-union firms.

Steven James of General Manager of Enco Precast concrete recorded verbal clashes with CFMMEU union officials. AAP Image:Steve Pohlner.

AN INSPECTOR in the Palaszczuk Government’s Office of Industrial Relations is under scrutiny for allegedly assisting a militant union in “a campaign of harassment” against a concrete manufacturer.

And the department was accused of becoming a tool of the union movement.

State Parliament was told Inspector Helen Burgess allegedly bullied cement manufacturer Enco Precast at the behest of the CFMMEU.

Also, it was claimed Burgess had suddenly appeared at a Sunshine Coast luxury unit complex site where a builder was in dispute with the CFMMEU.

Letters tabled in the House are littered with allegations of bullying, intimidation and trespass in cases investigated by Burgess.

However her bosses said there was no evidence she acted improperly.

The letters also show the Palaszczuk Government’s pro-union right-of-entry laws are not working and causing costly delays on building projects including public highway upgrades.

The documents record frequent clashes between union officials, police and bosses. They also show squabbles over who has the right to enter private workplaces.

And there are differing legal opinions about the validity of state and federal permits and identity papers.

Perhaps more worrying was Jarrod Bleijie’s assertions in Parliament that the Queensland Government Office of Industrial Relations was there to do the bidding of the union movement.

Bleijie, the opposition industrial relations spokesman, also told the House that a deputy director-general of the department, Simon Blackwood, was forced out because he “was not happy that the CFMMEU had infiltrated the Office of Industrial Relations and fought back against it”.

Alarm bells ring when a government department with investigative powers is accused of wrongdoing.

However they did not ring in the Crime and Corruption Commission. It washed its hand of complaints, flick-passing the investigation back to the department.

Bleijie told Parliament: “I am convinced there is a deliberate, coercive attempt by Helen Burgess in the Industrial Relations department to bully the business Enco on behalf of the CFMMEU.”

Bleijie said Burgess also appeared at the non-union building site of The Hedge apartments at Kawana on the Sunshine Coast where the CFMMEU was demanding entry.

“It took her 10 minutes to get from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast after receiving a complaint or a phone call from the CFMMEU,” he taunted.

He added: “I believe there is coercion and a deliberate attempt by the CFMMEU to infiltrate the industrial relations department of the Labor Government.”

Enco Precast is a manufacturer of large concrete pieces used in building projects such as the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing and Bruce Highway upgrade.

Enco Precast, a non-union manufacturer, was involved in a number of disputes with the CFMMEU at several sites. Enco general manager Steven James filmed some of the clashes.

Steven James the General Manager of Enco Precast concrete who clashed with CFMMEU union officials. AAP Image/Steve Pohlner.

Bleijie told the House a CFMMEU organiser named Blake Hynes called James a “f---ing dog and a c--- during a snap inspection and made other verbal threats of intimidation”.

“This unacceptable conduct is seemingly endorsed by Ms Burgess and the Office of Industrial Relations and the Labor Government,” he said.

There were three right-of-entry disputes at gates of Enco’s plant at Seventeen Miles Rocks in Brisbane’s west late last year.

Transcripts of recordings show there was intimidatory language and threats by union officials to “bash our way in”.

Bleijie tabled a bundle of letters and other documents.

“Evidence of threats, intimidation and trespassing are all clearly detailed in the correspondence,” he said.

Cement girders used in the construction of the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. The CFMMEU led a protest at the site.

Enco complained about Burgess siding with the union officials in a formal legal letter to Simon Blackwood, then the deputy D-G at the Office of Industrial Relations.

Alana Paterson of HopgoodGanim Lawyers, for Enco, said Enco maintained the CFMMEU and the CEPU “are not entitled to represent any workers based at Enco’s workplace”. She said there was no reasonable suspicion of any safety contraventions.

Moreover, Enco said some union officials did not produce identification or did not have valid entry permits. Burgess backed the union officials.

Paterson said the ongoing strife “suggests our client is the target of a campaign of harassment by Ms Burgess”.

Bleijie also wrote a letter of complaint about Burgess to the Office of Industrial Relations requesting she be replaced by an “independent officer”.

In his reply Tony James, acting deputy D-G who replaced Blackwood, said the Burgess investigation involved “complex legal issues”.

“Inspector Burgess has provided an explanation and response to the allegations,” he said.

James said there were “substantially competing claims” about what took place and “different perceptions” about Burgess’s conduct.

He told Bleijie his initial investigation found no evidence against Burgess “to substantiate any improper conduct”.

He added: “I have decided not to stand Inspector Burgess aside.”

Bleijie then complained to CCC chairman Alan MacSporran. MacSporran did not bother to reply personally.

Bleijie got a response from an unnamed staffer at the Integrity Services division saying his complaint had been referred back to the department.

Is this really good enough,?

The anonymous CCC writer told Bleijie the CCC believed in the “devolution principle” in that any “inappropriate behaviour” of staff should be investigated by the managers of the department involved.

It added: “The CCC considers that it is appropriate for the Ethical Standards Unit of the Office of Industrial Relations to take responsibility for dealing with your concerns.”

James said even though there was no evidence “to substantiate any inappropriate conduct” the Ethical Standards Unit would “conduct an independent investigation of the matters raised”.

PS...

LIPSMACKING ANTICS

BRITONS seem spellbound by the antics of TV personality Julia Bradbury (pictured) who was bitten on the lip by a green ant in north Queensland. The star went to the Daintree rainforest while filming an eight-part ITV series, Australia with Julia Bradbury. There she met Juan Walker from the Kuku Yalanji people who have lived in the Daintree for 50,000 years.

“He persuaded me to eat live green ants and by promising me they tasted like a lemon sherbet sweetie,” Bradbury said in an interview in The Telegraph. “I did get bitten on the lip, and the legs were a bit sticky.”

Her pain was shared by the paper’s readers. In a letter to the editor Rod Beardsell from Cheshire said: “A squeeze on the creature’s abdomen produces a liquid that does indeed taste of lemon, with a dash of grapefruit,” he said. “If indigenous Australians are in need of a tonic, a quantity of ants are mashed and eaten for the vitamin C.”

The Daintree was prettily described in the paper as “a 180-million-year-old emerald underworld of ancient ferns and crystal clear streams.” Bradbury gushed over the “irresistible charms” of our animals. She got to swim with a platypus and was delighted to stroke its furry pelt.

ITV is the most popular commercial TV channel in the UK. Expect hordes of Poms to arrive any day now.

Julia Bradbury attends the TV Choice Awards at The Dorchester on September 10, 2018. Pic: Mike Marsland

 

COOL IT

THOUSANDS of elderly and disabled Queenslanders live in public housing in what a union leader told me were “sweaty little hot boxes”. The unions will ask Housing Minister Mick de Brenni to speed up the rollout of air conditioners.

Public Housing insiders say the Palaszczuk Government has dropped the ball, with only 2155 evaporative air coolers installed so far in the 54,058 social housing properties in Queensland. Another 8000 properties have refrigerated air conditioners the tenants have installed at their expense.

Airconditioning is hot news since the Opposition pledged to condition hot-box state schools. The pressure is now on both sides of politics cool the welfare houses. But the state appears to have run out of money for such luxuries. May I suggest ceiling fans? They work for me.

 

SWAN’S SONG

WAYNE Swan’s valedictory speech this week was a sentimental stroll through the years going back to his election to Parliament in the seat of Lilley in 1993. I thought he spoke well, despite slumping into his usual class war rhetoric.

Calling for a “progressive” tax regimen he said: “Too many people on generous incomes are simply tone deaf to the world in which they live. I call this the blindness of affluence.”

Swannie, 64, gets out on a pension reportedly $166,400 a year. It will, of course, be paid for largely from the excessive tax paid by the corporates he frequently scorns.

IRRITANT OF THE WEEK

THE travesty over delays to the Adani coalmine – and the impertinence of the Annastacia Palaszczuk government in hiding the finch habitat review from the media.