The construction watchdog has launched legal action against the CFMMEU and union organisers who allegedly yelled "f---ing scabs" and "dogs" at workers crossing a picket line at a Honeysuckle building site.
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The Australian Building and Construction Commission alleges in a statement of claim to the Federal Court that two of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union organisers climbed a crane on the Huntington development site without permission and while it was operating.
The claim alleges up to 40 picketers, led by CFMMEU state secretary Robert Kera and organisers Brendan Holl, Mark Cross, Joseph Uati, Karl Hitchcock and Troy Davis, chanted slogans, waved union flags and used megaphones and sirens to intimidate workers on site.
Mr Cross said on Wednesday that none of the organisers would comment publicly on the legal action.
The picket followed a breakdown in negotiations between the union and subcontractor IC Formwork over a new enterprise agreement.
The workers took protected industrial action from October 6 to 12 last year which included a picket on the median strip in Honeysuckle Drive outside developer DOMA Group's Huntington apartments site.
The picketers allegedly shouted out to workers from several contracting firms on site that they would "never work in Newcastle again" and words to the effect of "how do you sleep at night".
The picketers also allegedly "shouted and screamed abuse" at workers, including using the terms "f---ing scabs", "f---ing dogs", "f---ing grubs" and "f---ing scum", and stood "shoulder to shoulder" at the entrances to the building site.
At one point Mr Uati allegedly followed an IC Formwork employee into the Blue Door Cafe on Honeysuckle Drive and "stood in front of him while he attempted to order his lunch".
The union had asked for a staged 15 per cent pay rise over three years after the IC Formwork enterprise agreement expired in 2018.
Union organisers and the company reached an agreement on a new pay deal on October 13, the day after the industrial action ended.
The ABCC claim says the picket resulted in employees from other contractors, including Titan Cranes, Waco KwikForm and Australian Prestressing Services, refusing to work on site during periods of the industrial action.
At one stage crane operators allegedly climbed over a fence at the rear of the site rather than confront picketers near the entrance.
"Workers of the head contractor who continued to work were continually harassed, received abusive text messages referring to them as 'scabs' and told they would never work in Newcastle again," the claim says.
"The picketers' actions caused anxiety and distress to the workers and discouraged and prevented them from working on site."
The claim says main contractor Bloc engaged two other firms to provide mobile cranes on site on the second day of the picket and sent contractual notices of delay to Titan and Waco.
It says Bloc also started using the adjacent Horizon apartments building site, where it was also head contractor, to give workers access to the Huntington site.
From October 7 to 9 members of the picket allegedly sounded the sirens on their megaphones for extended periods and chanted the names of IC Formwork employees on site.
The ABCC claim says the picketers used the repeated blaring of sirens to disrupt the unloading of steel from a contractor's truck, creating an unsafe environment.
"Uati crossed the roadway and entered the bicycle lane next to the Colourbond fence between the bicycle lane and the slipway and held the megaphone with its siren blaring over the top of the fence about 50 centimetres from [a crane crew member] ... and the truck," the statement of claim says.
It says the site foreman "asked Uati to stop using his siren" and "Uati blasted his siren back" at him and the dogman standing on the back of the truck.
"The Police attended Honeysuckle Drive at about 9:00 am and asked Holl, Uati and Hitchcock to stop using the sirens and moved the picketers down the median strip away from the slipway," the claim says.
"While this was occurring Holl, Uati and Hitchcock used the key fobs to their utility vehicles parked in Honeysuckle Drive to set off their car alarms as a substitute nuisance for the sirens."
The ABCC says the union and its officials contravened sections of the Fair Work Act.
The union and organisers are expected to outline their defence when the Federal Court starts hearing the case on an as-yet-unspecified date.
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Michael Parris
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
Michael Parris reports on politics for the Newcastle Herald. He started at the Herald in 1994 after working in the ABC Newcastle newsroom. Michael spent much of his career as a sub-editor before moving into political reporting in 2017. He was a finalist in the Sports Australia national media awards for his stories about a male-only tennis club in Newcastle. He has covered NSW and federal elections, state and federal budgets and local politics. He has also written extensively about the COVID-19 pandemic with a special focus on data analysis and the effects of lockdowns on the Hunter community.
