CFMMEU penalties hit $15 million over threats to non-union workers

The Federal Court has penalised the union and organiser Bradley Upton for threatening and abusing non-union workers.

The judge \found Mr Upton repeatedly lambasted non-union members.

Penalties against the construction union and its officials have hit $15 million after the Federal Court today penalised the union and organiser Bradley Upton for threatening and abusing non-union workers on the Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia.

Federal Court judge Michael Barker found Mr Upton repeatedly lambasted non-union members as “f***ing dog c***s” during a 10-minute address to 60 workers on Deember 3, 2015.

“The f***ing 90 dog c***s that resigned from the union the day after we f***ing signed the EBA after we got the conditions we got now, this is a f***ing union site,’’ he told the meeting. “If you don’t f***ing like it, f*** off somewhere else.”

“We got you these conditions, we know who you are. We’re going to put your names on the back of toilet doors …. this is a f***ing union site, we have other union sites starting up next year and if you’re not in the union, you can f*** off too, you are not welcome.”

In his judgment today, Justice Barker found Mr Upton’s conduct was quite appalling” and his foul language was designed to intimidate employees into accepting that they must be union members if they wanted work.

“It is common, it seems, for some members of unions to believe that any manner of foul language or intimidatory conduct is par for the course at a union meeting,’’ he said.

“There is no particular reason why this should be so. It does not automatically have to follow that a good argument for persons to become and remain members of a union, for all the compelling reasons why unionism has been and is important in Australia, must be accompanied by the sort of appalling conduct that Mr Upton engaged in on this occasion.

“It is precisely that sort of conduct that gives unions and union representatives a bad name”.

Mr Upton was penalised $8100 and the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union was penalised $43,200

Workplace Minister Craig Laundy said the union and its officials had racked up $15 million in penalties since 2005, cementing its reputation as the country’s “most lawless union.”

Mr Laundy said Bill Shorten’s refusal to condemn or even distance himself from “made him unfit to be the alternative Prime Minister”.

“Bill Shorten relies on the vile thugs in the CFMEU for his very survival as Labor leader. In return, he’s done a deal with the union to deliver it even more power should he win the next election,’’ he said.

“For someone aspiring to be the country’s chief lawmaker to have this union and its officials as bedfellows would be viewed as wrong by most Australians.

“The swearing and abuse copped by the workers at Gorgon LNG plant will be commonplace at workplaces around the country if Bill Shorten gets the chance to deliver on his promise to give militant unions the right to enter workplaces at any time.”

Australian Building and Construction Commissioner Stephen McBurney said no worker should have to put up with threats and intimidation to join a union if they did not want to.

“The judgment speaks for itself, this type of threatening behaviour needs to be called out in the strongest possible terms and this decision does just that,” Mr McBurney said.

Justice Barker said the contravention by Mr Upton was deliberate but he accepted there was no evidence the union had knowledge of, or endorsed, how Mr Upton conducted himself on the day.

“However, it has to be said that the CFMEU, given its history of involvement in industrial disputation and prior contraventions, has to take responsibility for the conduct of its officials and surely, at one point or another, must begin to take positive steps to educate its officials not to contravene the law and as to proper standards of conduct,’’ he said.

He said neither Mr Upton nor the CFMEU had shown any particular contrition in relation to his behaviour.

“There is no evidence that any corrective action has been taken, either by Mr Upton or the CFMEU. As I say, it really is time where large and influential unions such as the CFMEU, like any other responsible entity in Australia that has been found responsible for contraventions of a regulatory system, acknowledge misconduct and take positive steps to correct it in the public interest. There is no evidence of any such corrective action in this case.”

The unIon’s Western Australian secretary, Mick Buchan, defended the conduct, saying “strong words never killed anyone”.

“It’s a tough industry,’’ he said. “No member of ours has ever complained to me about our language. They complain to the union daily, hourly, about their pay and conditions and poor safety.

“We will continue to fight for improvements. Our job first and foremost is to be a good union for workers and the agreement we got with the new rosters, during a time of great stress on the FIFO workforce with suicides etc. was just that – a good outcome, which we will always pursue with vigour.”