CFMEU industrial action at Townsville stadium ‘deplorable’

The Federal Court has criticised the CFMEU’s record of law-breaking as disgraceful, shameful, deplorable and dismal.

The Federal Court has criticised the CFMEU’s record of law-breaking as disgraceful, shameful, deplorable and dismal, imposing $287,000 in penalties on the union, an official and 16 workers for unlawful industrial action on the North Queensland stadium project.

The Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union was penalised $190,000 for unlawful industrial action over three days during the construction of the $293 million stadium in March 2019. CFMEU official Grant Harradine was penalised $20,000 for organising the unlawful action taken in a bid to coerce a subcontractor to make an enterprise agreement with the union. Sixteen workers were hit with combined penalties of $77,500 although the amount will be paid by the union.

The court found union officials abused the director of the subcontractor calling him a “f..king dog” and “a piece of shit”.

In a judgment on Wednesday, Justice Darryl Rangiah said the contraventions by the union must be regarded as “very serious”.

He said a schedule submitted by the Australian Building and Construction Commission demonstrated the union had contravened industrial legislation in more than 170 cases since

2000. The unions did not dispute the figure.

“The union’s record of contraventions has been described in other cases as “disgraceful

and shameful”, “deplorable” and “dismal”,” he said. “I agree with those descriptions.”

He rejected the ABCC”s bid to make Mr Harradine personally pay the $20,000 penalty and also dismissed its push for close to $420,000 in penalties to be imposed on the union.

ABCC Commissioner Stephen McBurney said the penalties imposed by the court reflected the gravity of the offending conduct.

“The CFMEU’s actions were motivated by a desire to pressure a local subcontractor to comply with the union’s will, regardless of the cost to the company,” he said.

“Consistent with previous cases, the Court noted the absence of contrition on the part of the

CFMEU and its official. Not only will the respondents be compelled to pay a high price for their unlawful conduct, but the court also made an order for payment of legal costs in addition to the penalties imposed.”