Commission takes wide view
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Tuesday, 26 March, 2002 - 21:00
OUTLAW motorcycle gang members helping to organise stop-work meetings, people locked in sea containers, witness intimidation, builders forcing sub contractors to sign union Enterprise Bargaining Agreements and corporate hospitality, the Cole Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry is investigating it all.
Counsel assisting the Com-mission John Agius intends using snap shots of incidents to highlight the woes in WA’s construction industry.
Sitting in the public gallery of the commission as he composes these snapshots is unusual.
It is hard finding a seat in the cramped public gallery filled largely by members from the CFMEU, along to show support for their comrades.
They scoffed at suggestions from Mr Agius as he investigated an incident where workers were reportedly held against their will in a sea container on the Carousel Shopping Centre site.
And they laughed outright when he suggested that members of the “Rebels Motorcycle Club” had helped organise the meeting.
One member of the public gallery roamed in and out of the hearing room sporting a plume of white feathers.
Both builders and union officials have spent long periods in the witness box.
Counsel assisting the Com-mission John Agius intends using snap shots of incidents to highlight the woes in WA’s construction industry.
Sitting in the public gallery of the commission as he composes these snapshots is unusual.
It is hard finding a seat in the cramped public gallery filled largely by members from the CFMEU, along to show support for their comrades.
They scoffed at suggestions from Mr Agius as he investigated an incident where workers were reportedly held against their will in a sea container on the Carousel Shopping Centre site.
And they laughed outright when he suggested that members of the “Rebels Motorcycle Club” had helped organise the meeting.
One member of the public gallery roamed in and out of the hearing room sporting a plume of white feathers.
Both builders and union officials have spent long periods in the witness box.