Workers warned to seek approval for protest

Construction workers have been warned they need their employer’s written permission to attend nationwide protests.

Employers must not unreasonably refuse to agree to a request by an employee to take paid annual leave if they wished to attend a rally.

Construction workers have been warned they could be penalised if they leave work next week without their employer’s written permission to attend nationwide anti-Coalition protests that the ACTU hopes will be attended by 250,000 workers.

The Australian Building and Construction Commission yesterday revealed it had dropped all but one of its investigations into claims that workers attended ACTU rallies last year without the permission of their boss.

An ABCC spokesman said OneSteel workers in Victoria remain­ed subject to a probe.

But ABCC commissioner ­Stephen McBurney yesterday urged workers to familiarise themselves with their legal rights and responsibilities before ­attend­ing the election campaign rallies scheduled for Wednesday.

Under the Fair Work Act, if an employee attends a rally ­without permission they are not able to be paid for the period of their ­absence or for four hours, whichever is greater.

Employees who leave work without approval could face ­financial penalties if a court finds they engaged in unlawful industrial action. Employers covered by the federal building code are required to report any actual or threatened unprotected industrial action to the ABCC within 24 hours of becoming aware of it.

Mr McBurney said employers must not unreasonably refuse a request by an employee to take paid annual leave if they wished to attend a rally.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus said the rallies were political protests, not industrial action. “In a democracy, people have a right to political protest,’’ she said.

The Federal Court yesterday imposed penalties totalling $78,000 against the construction union and two of its shop stewards for coercing a worker to pay union fees on two Melbourne sites.

Union shop stewards ­Maurice Campanaro and Joe Caratozzolo admitted to coercing a worker to pay union membersh­ip fees before he was allowed to start work at the Trilliu­m ­Project and EQ Tower con­struction sites.