‘No overt aggression’ at alleged blackmail coffee date with CFMEU execs: Boral executive
A BORAL executive allegedly blackmailed while having a coffee with construction union bosses has described the meeting as “pleasant”.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A BORAL executive allegedly blackmailed while having a coffee with construction union bosses has described the meeting as “pleasant”.
Peter Head told the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court union bosses John Setka and Shaun Reardon spoke passionately about their concerns for the safety of workers at builder Grocon’s city sites during the meeting.
“It was calm, it was pleasant. There was no overt aggression but certainly passion for the cause,” he said.
RELATED NEWS:
CFMEU AND OFFICIALS FINED $242K
CFMEU FUNDING DRUG REHAB FOR MEMBERS
CFMEU, MARITIME UNION SUED OVER DOCKS
The meeting was arranged by Boral at the height of the union’s war on Grocon amid allegations it employed Hell’s Angels bikies and other thugs to act as OH&S officers at its building sites.
The men were charged by police in 2015, based on statements Mr Head and his boss Paul Dalton made to the royal commission into trade unions 14 months after the cafe meeting.
Mr Head told the court the union believed Grocon were “killing people” and at the April 2013 meeting had asked Boral to stop supplying the builder for at least two weeks.
When the executives told the bosses that it was contracted to supply the concrete, Mr Setka allegedly suggested creating a ruse to help Boral wriggle off the hook.
The court heard Mr Setka offered to blockade Boral plants for two weeks so that the company could not be sued by Grocon for breaching its contract.
Mr Dalton declined the offer and suggested the union did what it needed to do and Boral would do likewise.
The men shook hands and went their separate ways, Mr Head said.
Barristers for the union chiefs have accused Mr Dalton of trying to entrap their clients during the “off-the-record” meeting into saying something that might have helped Boral with contemplated contempt of court action.
At the time, Boral had already secured several Supreme Court injunctions against CFMEU blockades.
MORE NEWS:
ROYAL WEDDING: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
SORRY, HOW MUCH WILL MY PARKING COST?
FACEBOOK USERS HIT BY FRESH SCANDAL
Robert Richter QC, for Mr Setka, said an email sent by Mr Dalton just weeks before the meeting outlined his plan.
The email stated a three-pronged attack where Boral would send a letter informing its customers of the court injunctions in place, follow-up with a meeting with the CFMEU and then lodge contempt proceedings.
Mr Head said he knew nothing of the supposed plan, but said Mr Dalton told him to take notes after the café meeting.
“Those words may be useful one day,” Mr Head claimed his boss told him.
“I didn’t imagine 14-months later we would be talking about this,” he said.
The preliminary hearing, which will decide if the union bosses face a jury trial, continues.