A Federal Court judge has set a limit on the construction watchdog's use of anti-picketing laws to bring unions to heel, observing that "while picketing involves obstruction, not every obstruction is a picket".
The Federal Court has today imposed $100,000 in fines and costs on the CFMMEU and a delegate who stopped work on a construction site due to safety concerns, but has criticised the ABCC for "over-egging" its case and of having "difficulty turning", like "a battleship in full steam" when it learned that the facts had changed.
The ABCC has warned contractors that they could contravene the BCIIP Act and the national construction code if they pay heed to Queensland Government procurement principles that apply to tenders for a $200m freeway bridge project.
In a significant ruling clarifying how penalties for multiple contraventions should be assessed, a full Federal Court has in cutting by more than half a $445,000 fine imposed on the CEPU rejected a judge's "global" approach to the historic reporting breaches.
A "recidivist" Tasmanian CFMMEU official whose belligerence has cost the union almost $500,000 in fines is finally off the ABCC's hit list, after a court ruled he should personally pay a $20,000 penalty for the latest of his entry breaches, which stretch back to 2015.
The ACCC has initiated a boycotts case against major construction company J Hutchinson and the CFMMEU, claiming the union persuaded the head contractor to ditch a waterproofing subcontractor that did not have a union deal, or face industrial action.
The Federal Court has penalised the CFMMEU and three construction division WA branch officials $180,000 for organising a half-day strike in 2018 over redundancy pay for Perth Airport rail link workers, 39 of whom also copped $4000 fines.
The ABCC is investigating stoppages at five Sydney building projects overseen by two builders ahead of possible protected industrial action ballots by members of the CFMMEU, which is pursuing a new pattern agreement.
The construction IR watchdog has vowed to closely police major infrastructure projects as Australia emerges from the pandemic, even as the number of enquiries about unlawful industrial action has plummeted by 65% over the past financial year.
A five-member full Federal Court has today warned judges against allowing "moral judgements" to intrude when they are imposing penalties, in overturning heavy fines for a CFMMEU "no ticket, no start" transgression after a judicial officer took the wrong approach to its "recidivist" history of contraventions.