The Federal Court has fined the Construction Forestry Maritime Mining and Energy Union (CFMMEU) and two officials $184,000 for breaching right of entry laws at the Kiama Aged Care Centre construction project.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Former official Gerasimos Danalis was found to have obstructed three concrete trucks on November 27, 2018, which meant concrete was wasted and work delayed.
Mr Danalis walked behind a reversing concrete truck, approached an operating concrete pump and tried to push the emergency stop.
He disrupted the truck from unloading its contents and prevented a second and third concrete truck from entering the site.
The next day Mr Danalis and current official Anthony Dimitriou acted in an improper manner by refusing to undertake a visitors' induction and entering the site unaccompanied, against the site manager's request.
"A common feature of the conduct on both days was that the officials exhibited a certain arrogance or sense of entitlement.... None of the contraventions was trivial or insignificant," the court said.
Acting Australian Building and Construction Commissioner Matt Kelleher said the findings reflected a pattern of behaviour from the union.
"The ABCC will continue to investigate and where appropriate, prosecute building industry participants to hold wrongdoers to account for unlawful behaviour on Australia's building and construction sites," he said.
The Illawarra Mercury newsroom is funded by our readers. You can subscribe to support our journalism here.
Sign up for breaking news emails below...
