Court: Union boss told me to stop crane

AN EX-CFMEU organiser has alleged Labor powerbroker Michael Ravbar ordered him to relentlessly target a crane company for not having a union agreement.

Mr Ravbar, the CFMEU and four other officials are on trial in the Federal Court after the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner alleged the 2012 campaign breached the Fair Work Act.

They deny the allegations.

If found to have breached the Act, Mr Ravbar – who as state secretary is the most senior CFMEU official in Queensland – faces significant fines.

Paul Cradden, a former CFMEU organiser who now does the same job for rival the Australian Workers Union, gave evidence on day one of a Federal Court trial yesterday that he was told to remove cranes from two projects worth a combined $1.9 billion.

He said regular meetings were held at the CFMEU’s Bowen Hills office to discuss companies without union EBAs, at which Mr Ravbar and former assistant secretary Peter Close gave orders to put pressure on Universal Cranes.

He said he went to the $1.5 billion Legacy Way tunnel site twice because he was told to “stop the crane”.

Under cross-examination, Mr Cradden agreed he could not be sure in some instances if it was Mr Close or Mr Ravbar who gave him directions, and he had approached the ABCC asking for indemnity from prosecution in exchange for dirt on the union.

The court was told Mr Ravbar’s evidence would include the only conversation he had about Universal Cranes related to its refusal to pay into a portable redundancy scheme.