CFMEU fined for ‘thuggish’ behaviour of officials Paul Tzimas and Ronnie Buckley on West Gate Tunnel project

The CFMEU has been fined $150,000 for what a judge labelled the bullying and abuse of workers on one of the Victorian government’s signature Big Build projects.

Justice John Snaden said the bullying and abuse of workers on the West Gate Tunnel project by two CFMEU officials was inexcusable. Picture: David Caird

The embattled CFMEU has copped a $150,000 fine for what has been slammed as “thuggish” behaviour on one of the government’s signature Big Build projects.

In a damning Federal Court judgment handed down on Thursday Justice John Snaden said the bullying and abuse of workers on the West Gate Tunnel project by two CFMEU officials was inexcusable.

He said the latest case was one of about 180 breaches of industrial laws by the union since 2010.

The case centred on an almost seven-hour stand off between CFMEU officials Paul Tzimas and Ronnie Buckley over safety concerns at the site.

The men entered the site about 9.30pm on December 3, 2019, while part of the West Gate Freeway was closed down to allow workers to install five bridge beams.

They demanded work stop and refused to co-operate with WorkSafe Victoria inspector, Quinton Drury, or Victoria Police.

“They sought to appropriate unto themselves an authority that they plainly did not possess; and, when challenged, their response was to bully their interlocutors with unwarranted insults and abuse,” Justice Snaden said.

“On no view could it be thought that Mr Tzimas and Mr Buckley were justified in behaving the way that they did,” he said.

“By holding up the performance of work, and by refusing to engage in a meaningful way with management, Mr Drury or the police as to their concerns, the conduct in which Mr Tzimas and Mr Buckley indulged bespoke a thuggish assertion of control over how the site should operate.

Justice Snaden said that in no way were Ronnie Buckley (pictured) and Paul Tzimas justified in behaving the way they did. Picture: CFMEU

“It is, I think, one thing to behave improperly whilst seeking legitimately to exercise statutory powers; it is another altogether to do so in connection with behaviour for which there could be no possible statutory justification.

“Improper conduct of the latter kind is, by its nature, more serious than equivalent conduct of the former kind.

“The fact that Mr Tzimas and Mr Buckley were minded to behave as they did — and that they responded in the ways that they did when they were challenged — tends to suggest that each might be prone to hot-headedness in the service of legitimate ends (here, the promotion of workplace safety).

“There is no possible justification for the conduct in which they engaged; and yet each felt licensed to obstruct the performance of work, and to bully and abuse those who sought to persuade them not to, including independent third parties who were unwittingly called upon to deploy their expertise in a difficult situation in the middle of the night.”

Justice Snaden found Mr Tzimas abused both Mr Drury and Victoria Police, accusing them of corruption.

The CFMEU and Mr Tzimas admitted a total of six breaches of the Fair Work Act by acting in an improper manner while exercising rights.

Mr Tzimas was personally fined $18,000.

In handing down the hefty financial penalties Justice Snaden noted CFMEU’s record of transgressing industrial laws.

“Between 2010 and the date of the hearing in this matter, it was the subject of approximately 180 findings of contravention(S),” he said.

“It is widely and properly accepted to be a well-resourced, recidivist offender that has produced an extraordinary number of judgments of this court and others.”

The militant union is set to be placed under administration due to a series of allegations of kickbacks, criminal associations and intimidation revealed in recent days.

Dozens of companies including scaffolders, concrete providers and traffic management companies were black-listed or kicked off taxpayer-funded construction sites over the past two years because they were not aligned with CFMEU.