Claims union disrupted major motorway construction meant to fix bottleneck
Six officials from the militant CFMEU have been accused of disrupting work at a major Brisbane motorway congestion hotspot including forcing a stop work and police to be called for safety reasons.
Police & Courts
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A FIX to a major motorway congestion hotspot was held up by allegedly unlawful disruption from the militant construction union, according to new claims in before the court.
Six CFMEU officials have been accused of disrupting work at the Logan and Gateway Motorway construction site in Brisbane over four separate days in May and June 2018, including forcing a stop work and police to be called for safety reasons.
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The site was being managed by CPB Contractors, the same group behind the Cross River Rail work subject to its own industrial problems with the union.
In that separate case, four CFMEU organisers have been accused of breaching right of entry rules and “highly offensive behaviour”, including one union official asking a contractor “would you like to see my c**k?”.
Construction watchdog the Australian Building Construction Commission has made the claims about the actions at the Motorway site in a claim before the court the union and its officials breached multiple right of entry contraventions under the fair work act.
Documents lodged with the court allege CPB representatives made repeated requests over the four days for union officials to produce right of entry permits, and warned them they were trespassing when the request was denied.
In one instance on June 13, CFMEU organiser Blake Hynes, while allegedly refusing to show an entry permit or undergo induction, picked up a 2m piece of flooring saying “looks like it needs a straight edge” before throwing it into the air, the documents claim.
According to the ABCC application, he then walked into an area which had been barricaded off with safety flagging, while two organisers walked around the site unattended.
“Their actions on this day resulted in the Safety Manager directing excavation works to cease operations so as to ensure the safety of those on site,” the ABCC stated.
Police were called and asked the three men to leave, which they did.
The first alleged incident took place on May 15, when the ABCC claims works on site had to be rearranged for safety when the officials were walking around a bridge area without showing permits.
Similar incidents were reported on May 18 and June 14, 2018.
During the various incidents, the union officials stated they had received complaints about safety on the site, including around excavations, falling objects or chemical storage.
The CFMEU was contacted for comment.
The maximum fine for each official if the claims are proven is $12,600, while the union faces a $63,000 penalty if they are found to have breached the Fair Work Act.