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The Federal Court in Victoria on 27 February 2020 penalised the CFMMEU and its senior official Alex Tadic a total of $59,500 for abusing a Victorian WorkSafe official.
The case related to the 2014 construction of the Castlemaine Police Station.
- The CFMMEU was penalised $51,000 – 100 per cent of the maximum available penalty.
- Mr Tadic was penalised $8,500 – 83 per cent of the maximum available penalty.
The Court found Mr Tadic intimidated and abused a WorkSafe Inspector while he was attempting to perform his duties investigating the health and safety of workers.
The ABCC successfully appealed an earlier Federal Court decision dismissing its case against Mr Tadic and the CFMMEU.
The Federal Court stated:
“The permit Mr Tadic had to enter the site was not a license to bully, intimidate or threaten [the WorkSafe inspector], or anyone else for that matter…”
“In my view Mr Tadic abused that power by his conduct towards [the WorkSafe inspector]. Such conduct would not be tolerated in a workplace as between employees or as between an employer and employee.
“Mr Tadic’s behaviour, by any measure, amounted to bullying and intimidation.
The Federal Court also found that Mr Tadic’s unlawful conduct was “within or close to the worst category of cases for contravention of… the FW Act.”
“Intimidating and abusive behaviour by a Union official permitted to enter a site for the vital purpose of protecting the health and safety of workers on the site must be condemned in the strongest terms.
In relation to the CFMMEU’s recidivist behaviour, the Federal Court stated:
“I have no wish to add my voice to the chorus of condemnation of the Union’s systematic unlawfulness, for there is nothing of substance to add to what has already been said repeatedly.
“Indeed the Union’s unabated recidivism is reason to infer that the more often condemnation to the same effect is repeated with no apparent deterrent effect, the more emboldened the union may become in its defiance.
Mr Tadic’s history of offending includes:
- Unlawful industrial action and coercion on the Monash Project site – penalty: $8,000.
- Unlawful industrial action on the Eastlink Freeway Project site – penalty: $2,500.
- Obstruction and hindrance on the Bendigo Theatre site, where he used profane and indecent language and acted in an aggressive manner – penalty: $7,500.
| Penalties awarded against | Penalties awarded |
| CFMMEU | $51,000 |
| Alex Tadic | $8,500 |
| Total | $59,500 |
Maximum penalty handed down against CFMMEU for abusing Victorian WorkSafe inspector