The Federal Magistrates Court in Melbourne has penalised an employee of a contractor $4000 for making a false and misleading statement about the obligation of two employees to join the CFMEU and discriminating against the employees because they had not paid union membership fees.
“Contractors have an obligation to ensure their employees are aware of the legal obligation to respect the right to freedom of association. This means a person’s legal right to choose whether or not to be a union member is fundamental and must be respected. The notion of a ‘union site’ is unlawful and a thing of the past,” ABC Commissioner John Lloyd said.
Commissioner Lloyd said in this case, the head contractor, Hickory Developments Pty Ltd, “failed to have processes in place which respected these rights”.
In February 2008, Mr Robert Brown, a senior employee of Hickory Developments, conducted a site induction at a construction project in Flemington, Victoria. During the induction Mr Brown contravened the Workplace Relations Act 1996 (WR Act) by making a false or misleading statement when he told two workers who were set to commence work on the project that they had to be members of the CFMEU to work on the site. Mr Brown referred to the site as a “union site”.
Mr Brown also contravened the WR Act by prejudicing the employment of the workers by preventing them from commencing work on the project because they had not paid union membership fees.
Federal Magistrate Burchardt held that the two workers lost income because of Mr Brown’s conduct and penalised Mr Brown a total of $4000 for the two contraventions, half suspended for 12 months.
For more information about the right to choose and discrimination, see the ABCC Fact Sheet: