Australian company hits back over workers’ T-shirt dispute

A union claims Aussie workers were stood down without pay over their T-shirts — but the company says there’s much more to the story.

An Australian company has hit back at claims a number of workers were temporarily stood down without pay for wearing union logos, insisting the dispute arose over safety concerns.

According to the Electrical Trades Union (ETU), a group of its members who work for electrical contractor Fredon Industries were sent home without pay last week after they turned up to work wearing clothing bearing union logos.

The union argued the employees, who are currently working on the NorthConnex project in Sydney, were stood down for wearing and displaying union-related material, and also because they had taken two meal breaks during their shift.

However, a representative from the company told news.com.au no worker had been sacked or dismissed, and that the dispute had “nothing to do with the logos on the T-shirts”.

Instead, the spokesman said the “T-shirt related issue” arose because the clothing interfered with the safety of staff on a job site during working hours.

He said the union T-shirts covered reflective hi-vis clothing that was necessary for the performance of work in that work environment, and that there were “multiple issues” which contributed to people being stood down — although he insisted nobody had been stood down without pay.

“Fredon is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our staff and respect their right to union participation,” the spokesman said.

“We engage in good faith bargaining with the ETU but we cannot compromise our position on staff safety in the performance of work.”

The dispute took place in the midst of bargaining for the Sydney Construction Union Enterprise Agreement negotiations.

Earlier, the ETU had argued that the workers had been stood down because of their union clothing, which would have been “unlawful” and a breach of the Fair Work Act.

In correspondence between the union and Fredon viewed by news.com.au, the ETU argued that members who wore union-related clothing and material were “not engaging in industrial action” and were “certainly not engaging in a partial work ban”.

Therefore, it claimed the business had no right to “refuse to accept the performance of work and refuse to remunerate the employees”, and that doing so was “unlawful conduct”.

The union also threatened to launch legal proceedings in the Federal Court if necessary.

This photo, taken at the NorthConnex site several days before the incident, shows some of the T-shirts in question. Picture: Facebook/Electrical Trades Union, ETU NSW Branch

ETU national legal counsel Alana Heffernan said the union had been in EBA negotiations with Fredon and other companies for some time, and that “the ETU and its members did everything right in notifying Fredon about plans to wear union-affiliated clothing”.

Meanwhile, ETU national secretary Allen Hicks said all Australian workers had the right to wear clothing bearing union logos.

“We’ve endured every dirty trick in the book during these negotiations, including companies forming a cartel to stand as one against our members and planting spies in our closed-door meetings,” he said, regarding the ongoing negotiations.

“I’m proud of our members and I’m proud of our union because we keep fighting and winning against every dirty trick these companies pull.”

Shine Lawyers’ employment law expert Will Barsby told news.com.au workers had the legal right to engage in industrial action and to be associated with a union.

“There are also workplace protections around political views, sexuality, gender and religious beliefs,” he said.

“Australian unions have fought hard for the rights of workers … employers cannot take unlawful action, including sending them home from work, simply for being associated with a union.”

The $2.9 billion NorthConnex project is one of Australia’s biggest infrastructure ventures.

It is a nine kilometre tunnel that will link the M1 Pacific Motorway at Wahroonga to the Hills M2 Motorway at West Pennant Hills in the NSW capital’s north.

Once completed, it is expected to remove around 5000 trucks from busy Pennant Hills Road.

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