Winter Issue 2009 - cfmeu

G E N E R A L N E W S
Joe’s loss is a win for the workers
CFMEU WA assistant secretary Joe
McDonald, who is proud to put
workers safety ahead of himself, was
fined $1500 and ordered to pay $3000
in costs after an appeal decision
found that he broke the law by staying
and talking to building site workers
after he was asked to leave. Joe
initially won the case but the case was
appealed. Joondalup Magistrate Joe
Randazzo said the assistant secretary
of the Construction, Forestry, Mining
and Energy Union "deliberately
ignored" Doric site manager James
Kemps request by moving further
inside and speaking to workers for
several minutes. His remarks follow an
Appeal Court judgment last February
in which Chief Justice Wayne Martin
overturned the same magistrates
ruling in 2007 that McDonald had a
lawful excuse to be on the site and
sent it back to Mr Randazzo for
sentencing. McDonald, who did not
have a right-of-entry permit at the
time, committed trespass when he
failed to leave the site immediately
after being told to leave, exposing him
to a maximum penalty of 12 months
jail or a $12,000 fine.
McDonald said at trial he entered the
site after being unable to contact a
contractor over a pay issue. Outside
court Joe vowed to keep pushing for
workers safety. "If our pursuit on
health and safety on building sites
makes me a criminal, so be it," he
said. "These laws that keep union
officials from going on and doing
something about it will eventually
change and until then we will operate
the way we have to operate and that’s
to keep working-class people alive."
Well said Joe. The Crown sought
costs and was denied!
Construction workers 'rorted' in NT
Rorting of construction workers on
Northern Territory work sites is rife,
the Construction Forestry Mining
and Energy Union says.
The union says almost all Darwin
construction companies are
employing people as
subcontractors instead of direct
employees to avoid paying leave
entitlements and superannuation.
The union's Dave Noonan says the Federal Workplace
Ombudsman has committed to investigate the issue.
“Those employers that are flouting the law had better
have a pretty good look at whether what they're doing is
illegal.”
“Because if they do what they say, there'll be some
employers facing significant back payments and
prosecution I would think.”
The Construction Association's Graeme Kemp says he
has not heard of this issue before.
Any company involved in rorting workers should be
punished, he says.
“We have very good relations with the unions generally
and I certainly have not had any contact from the CFMEU
about this issue,” he said.
“I've spoken to a couple of major construction
companies this morning and they're amazed at the
allegations that were made.”
Construction Worker – Winter 2009 Page 49
CFMEU