The Federal Court has imposed $67,500 in penalties on the AMWU, AWU, CFMEU, CEPU and officials Greg Warren, Terry Lee, Peter Mooney and John Parker, for organising and attending protest action to pressure subcontractors into entering union agreements.
The action occurred on about 20 days between November 2008 and March 2009, at the Patricia Baleen Gas Plant upgrade near Orbost, Victoria.
ABC Commissioner John Lloyd said the decision held those responsible for organising the action to account.
‘The law clearly states that action must not be taken to coerce or place undue pressure on a person to make, vary or terminate an agreement. This action was a considered and organised attempt to achieve that aim,’ said Mr Lloyd.
‘The conduct of the protesters included interference with gate locks, placing logs over the entrance to the site, slashing tyres, and throwing stones at employees entering the site.
‘The pickets were carefully orchestrated, and buses were organised to bring protesters to the site. Police assistance was required on one occasion to ensure vehicles could access the site.’
The industrial action commenced on 28 November 2008 when Mr Warren, Mr Lee and Mr Mooney arranged a stop-work meeting and instructed approximately 40 workers to take indefinite strike action or resign. As a result, 23 workers went on strike for the day.
Mr Warren and Mr Lee then asked the industrial relations manager for head contractor Worley Parsons if the company would agree to subcontractors entering a new agreement with the unions. The organisers were told that the subcontractors already had agreements in place and Worley Parsons would not agree to their request.
Following that initial action a further four pickets were held. The standard of conduct at the pickets worsened as the dispute went on.
‘The Patricia Baleen dispute happened at about the same time as the Westgate Bridge dispute. It is to be hoped that following this decision and the record Westgate Bridge penalty unlawful protest action is a thing of the past,’ concluded Mr Lloyd.