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Australian Building and Construction Commissioner v Pauls [2017] FCA 843
The Federal Court imposed penalties totalling $130,000 on the CFMEU and three of its officials for industrial action which shut down work at six projects across Brisbane, including Ronald McDonald House and the Commonwealth Games Velodrome site.
The CFMEU and the officials (Kurt Pauls, Justin Steele and Eddie Bland) admitted organising industrial action with the intention to coerce in contravention of sections 355 and 417 of the Fair Work Act 2009.
As part of the settlement of the case two CFMEU officials undertook right of entry training.
The targeted unlawful action saw work halted for two days at six Queensland projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars on 19 and 20 August 2016:
- Ronald McDonald House
- Commonwealth Games Velodrome project
- Mary Street Project
- Southpoint Project
- Newstead Apartments Project
- Pullman Ibis Hotel and Convention Centre Project, Brisbane Airport.
The Federal Court found the industrial action was aimed to pressure the head contractor to only use subcontractors who had enterprise agreements with the CFMEU or into consulting the union before engaging subcontractors.
In his judgment, Justice Rangiah said the “conduct was designed to disrupt the six projects and cause [the head contractor] economic harm.”
The Court said the respondents' attempts to coerce the contractor into “acceding to the CFMEU's industrial agenda must be regarded as a very serious matter.”
Justice Rangiah said the courts have repeatedly emphasised the need for specific deterrence of the union’s conduct, saying: “The CFMEU has a very extensive history of contraventions of industrial laws.”
|
Penalties awarded against |
Penalties awarded |
|
CFMEU |
$100,000 |
|
Kurt Pauls |
$10,000 |
|
Justin Steele |
$10,000 |
|
Eddie Bland |
$10,000 |
|
Total |
$130,000 |
$130,000