Ex-union official fined for Grammar shutdown
THE Federal Court has handed down penalties of $34,500 against the CFMMEU and its former union official Brendan Murphy for intentionally hindering construction at Geelong Grammar.
Mr Murphy entered a Geelong Grammar construction site in December 2014 without providing notice and refused to show his entry permit for inspection.
He then refused multiple requests to leave the site and called a meeting of workers.
He told the site manager he would not leave until everyone was off the site because he was not happy with the subcontractors that had been engaged.
A number of workers left the site and work ceased.
Mr Murphy threatened that he would be back the next day to make sure the site wasn’t open.
In an earlier liability judgment, the Federal Court rejected Mr Murphy’s claim that he was concerned about safety at the site.
In handing down the penalty judgment, Justice Mortimer took into account Mr Murphy’s conduct, including “… his aggression, his language, the interference with work on the site, the refusing to leave when told to, the contrived OH&S concerns, the threats not to allow the site to reopen.”
Her Honour went on to say Mr Murphy’s conduct was “… confrontational, aggressive and rude. Mr Murphy was bullying and overbearing, and deliberately so.”
Australian Building and Construction Commissioner Stephen McBurney said it was imperative that the law was followed by all building industry participants, whether they are union officials, employers or workers.
“All too regularly we see the CFMMEU and its senior officials flouting the law,” Mr McBurney said. “This decision illustrates a repeated pattern of bullying behaviour with officials claiming to go onsite over safety reasons only to be found by the courts that their real motivation is to shut sites down.
“If Mr Murphy was still a permit holder, based on the findings of the court and his previous contraventions, he would have faced the very real prospect of having his right of entry permit stripped from him.”