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ABCC secures record $1.3m penalty over West Gate Bridge dispute

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The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) has secured a record workplace relations penalty of $1.325m.

  

This is the result of a legal proceeding initiated by the ABCC in response to a protracted union demarcation dispute at the West Gate Bridge strengthening project in 2009 in Melbourne.
It revolved around the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, trying to muscle in on the work at higher rates of pay, by picketing the site and stopping work between February and May last year.
The CFMEU and AMWU and union officials Mick Powell, Tony Mavromatis and Gareth Stephenson agreed to pay the record penalty for a combined 52 breaches of workplace laws. $1m was payable by the CFMEU and its officials and the balance by the AMWU.
ABC Commissioner John Lloyd said the penalty reflected the serious nature of the unions’ and officials’ behaviour.
“No Australian employee or employer should have to endure the bullying, abuse, threats of violence and property damage that workers and subcontractors on the West Gate Bridge were subjected to,” Lloyd said.
“The ABCC is satisfied with the penalty which has held the unions and their officials accountable for their deplorable behaviour. The case will act as a powerful deterrent. If a person or organisation abuses the law and coerces others, the matter will be pursued and strong penalties can be imposed.”
The respondents had agreed to a settlement with the ABCC and did not refute the evidence of coercive conduct and unlawful industrial action. Such actions constitute offences under the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005.
In the Federal Court yesterday Justice Jessup ruled that the evidence showed the respondents had committed the 52 contraventions and the penalty was appropriate.
“For the most part… I have accepted the applicant’s submissions as to the consequences for the respondents’ conduct …and I have accepted the penalties proposed by the parties,” Jessup said.

 


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