CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY – AUSTRALIA – REGULATION

Boral risks millions after code warning

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 21-Dec-18

Boral subsidiary De Martin & Gasparini has been given an official warning from the federal government for breaching its building code. Boral will be banned from tendering for construction projects that receive federal funding if it breaches the code again. Boral is the first company to receive an official warning for a breach of the code, which was introduced alongside the reinstatement of the Australian Building & Construction Commission in 2016.

CORPORATES
BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, DE MARTIN AND GASPARINI PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Taxpayers slugged for failed union action

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 6-Jun-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission has spent more than $A44,000 in a failed bid to overturn a court’s decision to dismiss a case against the militant Construction, Forestry, Maritime & Mining Energy Union. The ABCC’s legal costs in the original case had exceeded $A666,000. The case had concerned a blockade at a construction site in Canberra, with the ABCC contending that the industrial action was aimed at forcing the builder to sign an enterprise agreement.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS COMMISSION

Union’s Eureka flag victory flies in the face of regulator

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 5-Jun-18

The Fair Work Commission has ruled that displaying union logos or the Eureka flag on construction sites does not breach the building industry code. Commissioner Bernie Riordan ruled that workers would not get the impression that membership of the construction industry union is compulsory. The Australian Building & Construction Commission warned earlier in 2018 that construction firms could face bans if employees displayed the Eureka flag. ACTU secretary Sally McManus has welcomed the FWC’s ruling and called for the ABCC to be abolished.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MARITIME, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, ACTU, WATPAC LIMITED – ASX WTP, PROBUILD PTY LTD, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION

Watchdog tests its extra bite on building union

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 8 : 30-May-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission alleges that a blockade organised by three Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union representatives in May 2017 breached workplace laws. The ABCC’s legal action contends that the blockade of two Melbourne construction sites constituted a breach of the unlawful picketing provisions of the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act. The union representatives claimed that they had prevented workers from accessing the site on a designated rostered day off.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Watchdog vows to take stick to CFMEU officials over fines

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Mar-18

The new head of the Australian Building & Construction Commission, Stephen McBurney, notes that 37 of the 41 investigations that are currently underway involve the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union. McBurney says he is open to talks with CFMEU officials about complying with industrial relations laws, arguing that the ABCC budget would be better spent on education and prevention instead of legal action. However, he adds that the ABCC will seek to make union officials personally liable for fines in the wake of a court ruling which prohibits the CFMEU for paying fines on their behalf.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE, AUSTRALIAN CRIME COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL CRIME AUTHORITY, VICTORIA. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF EXAMINER

Builders facing bans for displaying Eureka flag

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 1 & 2 : 5-Feb-18

The Australian Building & Construction Commission says construction firms may be ineligible to tender for federal government projects if workers display union slogans or logos on employer-issued clothing and equipment. The revised national construction code, which was released in 2016, includes more strict restrictions on displaying union-related logos and slogans than the 2013 code. Dave Noonan of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union says the ABCC’s "anti-union ideology" has not changed since Stephen McBurney replaced Nigel Hadgkiss as commissioner.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MASTER BUILDERS AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED

Swearing ruling lowers bar on behaviour

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 8-Nov-17

The Fair Work Commission has ruled that Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union official Brad Upton is not a "fit and proper" person to hold a workplace right-of-entry permit. The ruling concerns his use of offensive language while addressing workers at the Gorgon LNG project. Meanwhile, the FWC has issued a separate ruling in which South32 was ordered to reinstate a CFMEU official for using similar language and making physical threats against eight workers.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, SOUTH32 LIMITED – ASX S32, K&L GATES LLP, CLAYTON UTZ, AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RESOURCES INSTITUTE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION

Frustrated judges put fine pedal to the metal for militant union

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 9 : 24-Oct-17

Industrial relations barrister Stuart Wood notes that judges have become much more willing to impose maximum penalties on the CFMEU for breaching workplace laws in recent years. He adds that only five years ago the $A2.4m fine imposed on the union by Justice Geoffrey Flick in September would have been much lower. The Federal Circuit Court’s Judge Salvatore Vasta also recently imposed the maximum penalty of $A306,000 for breaching workplace laws but said the fine would have been much higher if he had the scope to do so.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, K&L GATES LLP

Peak penalty for ‘nefarious’ building union

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 6 : 20-Oct-17

The Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union has fined a total of $A306,000 over a confrontation between former Queensland CFMEU president David Hanna and site managers at a Brisbane construction project in 2015. This is the maximum penalty at present, but Federal Circuit Court judge Salvatore Vasta said the fine would have been much greater if industrial relations laws allowed it. He noted that the CFMEU habitually breaches industrial laws and existing penalties are not acting as a deterrent.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR

Union demands action over ‘rogue’ building watchdog

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 5 : 20-Sep-17

The Electrical Trades Union’s national secretary Allen Hicks has criticised the Australian Building & Construction Commission for pursuing costs against the union. The ETU challenged the validity of the national building code in court earlier in 2017, but subsequently abandoned the case. However, former ABCC head Nigel Hadgkiss sought a ruling against the union on costs. Hicks argues that Hadgkiss should have been aware that there was little chance of costs being awarded, and he wants the Federal Government to ensure that the ABCC is accountable for its expenditure on litigation.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION COMMISSION, ELECTRICAL TRADES UNION, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, SA POWER NETWORKS, ASHURST AUSTRALIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA