Background
Allegations as outlined in the ABCC’s statement of claim
- Worley Parsons Services Pty Ltd was the head contractor on the upgrade of the Patricia- Baleen gas plant in Newmerella near Orbost in Victoria’s East Gippsland region.
- Worley Parsons engaged a number of subcontractors at the site including Ausscom Pty Ltd,GBG Concrete and Construction Pty Ltd, Primaweld Engineering Pty Ltd and Ashvale Pty Ltd.
- The subcontractors had site-specific workplace agreements in place with their employees, which unions were not party to.
Work bans - 20 November 2008 to April 2009
- On 20 November 2008 AMWU organiser Greg Warren, AWU organiser Terry Lee and CEPU organiser Peter Mooney organised a meeting at the site which 12 workers attended during their lunch break.
- During the meeting the organisers directed or advised the workers to take indefinite strike action by not working at the site or resigning from their employment at the site.
- Following the meeting one worker resigned on 21 November 2008 with immediate effect.
- At 7am on 28 November 2008 Mr Warren, Mr Lee and Mr Mooney arranged a stop work meeting during working hours at the gate of the site. About 40 workers attended and were instructed to take indefinite strike action or resign.
- As a result, 23 workers went on strike for the day.
- After the meeting Mr Warren and Mr Lee asked the site industrial relations manager forWorley Parsons if the company would agree to the subcontractors creating a new workplace agreement to which the unions would be a party. The IR manager told the organisers that the subcontractors already had agreements in place and Worley Parsons would not agree to their request.
Pickets - 29 and 30 November 2008
- Mr Warren, Mr Lee and Mr Mooney organised a picket outside the site gate which included a caravan and a temporary camp. Workers were heckled as they entered the site.
Pickets – 2 to 18 December 2008
- On 2 December 2008 Worley Parsons’ IR manager said to Mr Lee that the employees were “happy with their wage rates, why don’t you leave them alone?” to which Mr Lee replied: “We have to do what we have to do. You can’t expect us not to.”
- From 2 to 18 December 2008 Mr Warren, Mr Lee and Mr Mooney organised pickets of up to 30 people at the site. Behaviour on the pickets included, on various days:
- a lock being placed on the main gate to prevent entry to the site;
- the lock being glued together to prevent entry to the site;
- the lock being jammed with a stick to prevent entry to the site;
- picketers yelling abuse at employees of the subcontractors and throwing stones at them;
- faeces being smeared over signs, chains and locks associated with the site;
- the electric fence along the driveway of the site being pulled out and pushed over;
- a log being placed on the driveway of the site to block vehicles from entering the site;
- a security mirror on the site being removed;
- tyres of vehicles associated with the site being slashed;
- the lock on the site’s security hut being jammed with a stick to prevent it being unlocked;
- speed restriction signs in the vicinity of the site being pulled out;
- physically blocking the road to prevent vehicles entering, requiring police assistance to be removed;
- Mr Lee standing in front of vehicles seeking access to the site, and
- picketers hitting the external mirrors of workers’ vehicles as workers drove through the front gate of the site – in one case a mirror was smashed.
Picket - 6 January 2009
- On 6 January 2009 Mr Warren, Mr Lee and Mr Mooney organised pickets at the site of up to 50 people which involved:
- the majority of picketers being transported to the picket by bus;
- an attempt to prevent workers from attending the site – police car escorts were required;
- the side mirrors of workers’ cars being knocked, and
- workers attending the site being verbally abused.
Pickets – 27 March and 7 April 2009
- On 27 March and 7 April 2009, Mr Warren, Mr Lee and Mr Mooney organised pickets at the site of up to 40 people a day which involved, particularly on 27 March:
- the majority of picketers being transported to the picket by bus;
- the picketers standing on the roadway to block entry to the site;
- the picketers yelling abuse at employees who entered the site in convoys of 10 vehicles under police escort, and
- picketers taking photographs of the employees entering the site.
CFMEU seek union agreements
- On 3 December 2008 CFMEU official John Parker told Worley Parsons’ project manager that he wanted union agreements with the subcontractors in place and wanted to meet with the IR manager to negotiate the agreements. The project manager refused and Mr Parker said he didn’t want a fight but was prepared to have one.
- In early December 2008 the IR manager had a telephone conversation with either Mr Parker or CFMEU organiser Tom Malone during which the CFMEU representative stated that the union wanted to do a deal for union agreements to apply at the site.
- On 22 January 2009 the IR manager and project manager met with Mr Parker and Mr Malone at the CFMEU’s Morwell office. Mr Parker and Mr Malone stated they wanted to get rid of the non-union agreements at the site and replace them with a CFMEU agreement.
CFMEU work bans – 3 and 12 February 2009
- On 3 February 2009 Mr Parker organised a one-hour stop-work meeting attended by 20 workers.
- On 12 February 2009 Mr Parker organised a two-hour stop-work meeting during which he instructed workers to take indefinite strike action by not working at the site. One worker left the site after the meeting.
- On 12 February 2009 Mr Parker told a Worley Parsons industrial relations consultant “No more talking, I’m going to shut the job down as the guys aren’t happy.”
CFMEU picket - 28 April 2009
- On 28 April Mr Parker organised a picket at the site of up to 20 picketers which involved:
- the majority of picketers being transported to the picket by bus, and
- picketers yelling at and abusing workers as they entered the site.
Alleged contraventions
- The ABCC alleges the AMWU, AWU, CEPU, CFMEU, Mr Warren, Mr Lee, Mr Mooney and Mr Parker contravened:
- Section 38 of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 (BCII Act) by engaging in unlawful industrial action; and
- Section 44 of the BCII Act by taking or threatening to take action with intent to coerce, or apply undue pressure to, subcontractors to enter workplace agreements with the unions.
ABCC Prosecution
- The ABCC filed a statement of claim in the Federal Court at Melbourne on 19 November 2009.
- A directions hearing is scheduled for 11 December at 9.30am.
Penalties
- The maximum penalties for each contravention of the BCII Act are $22,000 for an individual and $110,000 for an organisation.
ABCC Intervention
- In December 2008 Worley Parsons and three other contractors applied to the AIRC for orders to stop industrial action.
- On 7 January and 26 February 2009 orders were made that industrial action not be taken or organised by the three unions and named individuals until 9 September 2009. Among those named was CEPU Organiser Peter Mooney. On 27 March 2009 approximately 30 people, including Mr Mooney, picketed the site. Worley Parsons and the other contractors applied to the Federal Court for injunctions restraining the CEPU and Mr Mooney from breaching the AIRC order.
- The ABCC intervened on 3 April 2009. At a hearing on 6 April 2009 Marshall J. Concluded that it appeared that the AIRC's orders had prima facie been breached. The court made interlocutory orders that the CEPU and Mr Mooney be restrained from organising industrial action or threatening, coercing or intimidating any employee.
- The parties have agreed to the matter being referred to mediation, which is expected to occur prior to February 2010. For further information on the intervention, see the ABCC website