Union officials can't use their right to enter premises for discussions with members to gather signatures on petitions or "secure a commitment to a particular course of action in the future", the Federal Court has found, ruling in favour of an employer that blocked access for an organiser who sought workers' backing for a majority support determination.
A court has fined a major meat processing company $30,000 for unlawfully hindering a union official's entry by requiring him to surrender his phone, after finding its no-phones "safety" policy did not apply to other types of visitors.
The FWC has renewed entry permits for three CFMMEU officials, but has made them conditional on them not exercising specific entry powers designed to protect textile, clothing and footwear workers, unless they complete further training.
A court has found that a union official needed to bring his phone onto a worksite to protect the rights of employees he represented, ruling that a meat processing company unlawfully hindered him by refusing entry unless he surrendered it.
A CFMMEU organiser who engaged in threatening and coercive conduct, including stopping a concrete pour, has failed to convince the FWC to renew his entry permit, despite presenting evidence that he had recently completed training on the error of his ways.
A court has fined a CFMMEU official almost $9000, but has attached little weight to "remedial" training he undertook after the ABCC charged him with preventing a concrete pour, saying it should not be necessary for someone in his role.
A judge has in slugging a CFMMEU organiser with a $12,500 personal fine speculated that counsel for the ABCC may have led a "sheltered" existence in not appreciating that the official had aimed a "quite disgusting" homophobic slur at a project's safety adviser.
The FWC has suspended the entry permit of a CFMMEU organiser held to have flagrantly abused his power and urged workers to drive into him while he claimed to be responding to safety concerns, with another official also facing the temporary loss of his permit.
A CFMMEU organiser who failed to undertake "targeted" training on his rights and obligations until more than two years after the ABCC accused him of multiple breaches has had his entry permit suspended for three months.
The High Court has today unanimously ruled that judges can take into account the CFMMEU's history of contraventions when assessing fines for breaches of industrial laws, clearing the way for the ABCC to seek maximum penalties for relatively minor infractions.
