The Federal CFMEU, NSW CFMEU and a union organiser will respond to allegations of unlawful conduct in the Federal Magistrates Court at Sydney on 24 May.
The Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner (ABCC) alleges that the union organiser advised and encouraged a head contractor to refuse to hire a painting subcontractor and, when the contractor hired the subcontractor, to terminate its contract.
The contract was for work on the Kiama High School, on the NSW South Coast, last year. The ABCC alleges that CFMEU organiser Peter Primmer advised and encouraged the head contractor not to engage the painting subcontractor on 14 September 2006. It is alleged the reason given was that the subbie was involved in dispute proceedings before an industrial court over unpaid wages.
The said proceeding dated back to a November 2003 claim by an employee. The proceeding commenced in the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW in April 2006 and was formally discontinued by the NSW CFMEU on 26 September 2006.
Mr Primmer subsequently attended the site on 12 October and allegedly advised and encouraged the head contractor to terminate the subbie’s contract. On the same day, Mr Primmer allegedly threatened to stop the project if the subbie continued working on it, with intent to coerce the head contractor into terminating the subbie’s contract.
Mr Primmer also allegedly threatened to inform the local media that the head contractor was using subcontractors involved in dispute proceedings before the court over unpaid wages, despite the fact that the CFMEU had in fact dropped the proceeding.
It is alleged that Mr Primmer engaged in this conduct for a “prohibited reason” under the Workplace Relations Act 1996 in that it was carried out because the subbie has participated in a proceeding under an industrial law.