NSW construction union boss Brian Parker and nine other officials face heavy penalties after being found liable for unlawful industrial action at Sydney's Barangaroo site where they intimidated a female police officer and called Lend Lease employees "dogs" and latte-sipping "c---s".
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The Federal Court on Wednesday found the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union NSW and its members breached workplace laws by striking at the building site on July 24 and 25 in 2014 after the suspension of union delegate, Peter Genovese. Mr Genovese was suspended after he allegedly pushed and verbally abused a Lend Lease employee.
Federal Court Justice Geoffrey Flick on Wednesday found CFMEU NSW secretary Mr Parker and other union officials co-erced workers into unlawful strikes that saw about 1000 construction workers walk off the job at the $6 billion Barangaroo project.
During the height of the dispute, union officials were reported calling Lend Lease employees "dogs", "lower than a paedophile grub" and latte-sipping "soft c---s".
Justice Flick found Mr Parker had intended to "stir up" workers to take unlawful industrial action to put pressure on Lend Lease to reinstate Mr Genovese.
Justice Flick found Mr Parker had tried to intimidate a female police officer after she tried to help workers enter the Lend Lease site after Mr Parker had declared it closed. Union officials called those who entered "dogs".
The judge also expressed reservations about the reliability of Mr Parker's evidence saying he could not recall many of the statements attributed to either himself or others.
"Mr Parker's evidence was also characterised more by his being anxious to provide an explanation for his conduct than by a desire to answer the question being put. Frequently, for example, he started answering questions before the question had been completed," Justice Flick said.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said it seemed a "regular occurrence that the construction union and its senior officials are found by the courts to have broken Australia's workplace laws".
"This time it's the NSW state secretary of the CFMEU and other union bosses that were held to have organised a mass walk-off of workers in order to coerce a builder to comply with their demands," Ms Cash said.
"Unfortunately, the bullying and thuggery exhibited by these CFMEU officials has become a hallmark of the union and clearly shows why the ABCC is required to clean up the industry's culture."
The ABCC will make submissions on penalties. Maximum penalties range from more than $10,000 for individuals to more than $50,000 for the union for each breach of Fair Work laws.
