No remorse, no permits: IR umpire takes aim at CFMEU

Two union officials have been barred from entering construction sites as the industrial relations umpire clamps down on permits.

Two union officials have been barred from entering construction sites in a sign that the industrial relations umpire will clamp down on right-of-entry permits for individuals with a record of ­unlawful behaviour and who fail to show “remorse”.

The Fair Work Commission refused applications for right-of-entry permits from Timothy ­Jarvis and Andrew TeMoho, representatives of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in Queensland, after hearing the pair had in the past ­engaged in unlawful industrial ­action and “coercion”.

The commission heard Mr Jarvis had been ordered to pay fines of $13,710 for unlawful behaviour. Mr TeMoho was ordered to pay $3300 following two cases, while the CFMEU paid nearly $900,000 in penalties across cases involving the pair.

A delegate from the Fair Work Commission issued entry permits to Mr Jarvis and Mr TeMoho last month.

However, the federal building watchdog, the Fair Work Building and Construction agency, appealed­ against the grant.

In his decision last week to revoke Mr Jarvis’s permit, commission deputy president Val Gostencnik said: “There is no evidence from Jarvis that he will not engage in similar action in pursuit of, for example, industry-wide campaigns advocated by his ­employer, the CFMEU.”

Mr Jarvis submitted evidence that he had recently undertaken right-of-entry training, but this was not enough to satisfy Mr Gostencni­k, who is a former head of the FWBC.

“No other evidence is offered that the CFMEU as the employer of Jarvis has taken any step to counsel, advise, discipline or train Jarvis about his conduct,” he said.

Mr Gostencnik said Mr Te­Moho’s conduct “in each case ­observed was planned and deliberate”. “There is no indication from TeMoho of any contrition or remorse ... There is no indication that he has learned his lesson,” he said. Mr TeMoho’s original applic­ations for the permit failed to disclose his previous conduct.

The FWBC agency, led by direc­t­or Nigel Hadgkiss, has recently stepped up its pursuit of the CFMEU’s construction division and has launched court action which could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in fines.

In the past month, the FWBC has alleged the CFMEU construction division and 21 officials in Queensland broke the law 822 times on worksites in 2013, and has also launched proceedings in the ACT where it claims union representatives are forcing contractors to sign enterprise bargaining agreements under threat of industrial action.

The Master Builders Association has campaigned for sweeping changes to right-of-entry permits.

Restrictions that were imposed­ in Queensland in 2013 forced union officials to give 24 hours’ written notice before enteri­ng a workplace to inquire into a suspected breach of state health and safety laws.