The construction union and its militant leader Joe McDonald have been hit with their second hefty fine in one week, after being penalised for their role in unlawful industrial action at CITIC Pacific’s Sino Iron project in the Pilbara.
The construction union and its militant leader Joe McDonald have been hit with their second hefty fine in one week, after being penalised for their role in unlawful industrial action at CITIC Pacific’s Sino Iron project in the Pilbara.
In a ruling handed down today in the Federal Court, the CFMEU and its assistant secretary Mr McDonald were penalised a total $193,600.
Just four days ago, Mr McDonald was penalised $40,000 for failing to comply with a court order banning him from the Fiona Stanley Hospital construction site and its surrounds.
Nigel Hadgkiss, the director of national building regulator Fair Work Building & Construction, said Mr McDonald was a repeat offender.
“Since 2005, Mr McDonald and the CFMEU have been collectively penalised more than $1 million for action Mr McDonald has been involved in,” Mr Hadgkiss said.
“This does not include legal costs Mr McDoanld and the CFMEU have been ordered to pay.”
Mr Handgkiss said the FWBC will not tolerate unlawful industrial action on Australian building sites.
“People who do not respect the rule of law must expect there will be consequences.”
In the CITIC Pacific matter, Mr McDonald entered the site on 21 February 2012 and addressed an unauthorised meeting of 87 employees; subsequently, 77 workers withdrew their labour.
An industrial relations consultant asked Mr McDonald to leave the site because he did not have a right of entry permission or permission to be there.
Mr McDonald responded: “I haven’t had one for seven years and that hasn’t f***ing stopped me.”
In today’s ruling, Justice Barker said Mr McDonald’s conduct involved a “calculated and careless attitude to the law”.
“It was calculated to cause disruption to employers carrying out building and construction work on the site and it was careless in that McDonald was aware of the legal consequences of his actions and pursued them nonetheless”.
In the Fiona Stanley matter, the action was taken by construction contractor Brookfield Multiplex.
On 15 February 2013, it obtained an order banning Mr McDonald from coming within 100 metres of three neighbouring construction sites – the Fiona Stanley Hospital, the St John of God Murdoch Hospital extension and the WA Institute for Medical Research building.
On 26 February 2013, he breached the order by attending a workers’ meeting at the Fiona Stanley site.
Justice Gilmour ruled that “there was no reasonable effort made by McDonald to ascertain and understand the terms of the order, not least by reading it”.
“McDonald knew that the order had been made. He knew that it related to his conduct on the applicants' sites, and he was served with the order personally. Despite this he did not bother to read the order thoroughly or in detail.
“This was so notwithstanding that, less than six months before, McDonald had been found guilty of contempt of another order of this Court, and fined a total $50,000.
“Such a careless attitude to his obligations to the Court, and a failure that is incompatible with a diligent attempt to implement the Court's order, are each significant manifestations of McDonald's contempt.”
In setting the penalty, Justice Gilmour acknowledged that Mr McDonald had apologised to the court for his actions.
However, he said the contempt was serious and disclosed a “cavalier attitude” on the part of Mr McDonald, whose “repeated conduct, as I have observed, discloses a pattern of indifference”.
