Office of the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner

Allegations in the ABCC’s statement of claim

• Mirvac Constructions (WA) Pty Ltd was engaged to undertake building work at ‘The Peninsula Project’ in Burswood, Western Australia
• On 12 September 2008 at 7.20am CFMEU and CFMEUW representative, Mr Joseph McDonald attended The Peninsula Project and convened an unauthorised stop-work meeting with Mirvac employees and employees of building contractors at the site.
• As a result of their attendance at the meeting, the employees failed to perform work that they were engaged to perform on the project.
• At 8.10am Mr McDonald spoke with Mirvac’s site manager. After this discussion Mr McDonald returned to the unauthorised meeting and advised the employees that they would be docked four hours pay as a consequence of having attended the unauthorised stop-work meeting.
• Mr McDonald arranged a ballot with the employees to determine whether they should leave the site for the remainder of the day.
• At the conclusion of the ballot approximately 125 employees left the site and failed to perform work that they were engaged to perform for the remainder of the day.

Alleged contraventions

• The ABCC alleges that on 12 September 2008 the CFMEU, CFMEUW and Mr McDonald:
• contravened s.38 of the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act 2005 by engaging in unlawful industrial action; and
• contravened s.494 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 by engaging in industrial action before the nominal expiry date of an industrial agreement.

ABCC Prosecution

• The ABCC filed proceedings in the Federal Magistrates Court in Perth on Friday 11 September 2009. The first directions hearing is scheduled on 9 October 2009.

Penalties

• The maximum penalties for a contravention of s.38 of the BCII Act are $22,000 for an individual and $110,000 for an organisation.
• The maximum penalties for a contravention of s.494 of the WR Act are $6,600 for an individual and $33,000 for an organisation.