$159,000 penalty for unlawful CFMEU picket

Three CFMEU officials have been ordered to personally pay penalties of up to $12,600 each for an unlawful picket In Canberra in 2018.  

A CFMEU rally in Brisbane.

The construction union and three of its officials have been penalised $159,600 over a two-hour unlawful picket in Canberra that cost a company $15,000 in lost productivity.

The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union’s ACT secretary, Jason O’Mara, assistant secretary Zach­ary Smith and organiser Joshua Bolitho were ordered to personally pay penalties of up to $12,600 each for the unlawful ­action in May 2018 at the $300m Constitution Place project.

Federal Court judge Anna Katzmann said repeated imposition of penalties had not deterred the union and it was “reasonable to infer the union takes the view that paying penalties is merely a cost of doing business. In the absence of evidence to the contrary and in the light of its appalling record, the inference is open that the union has done nothing to encourage its ­officers and employees to comply with laws that stand in the way of its industrial objectives.”

The court found 12 to 20 ­people took part in the picket, with cars parked in front of the entrance and locks and chains put on the gate.