Worker forced into CFMEU after big build site shutdown
Duncan Murray |
A construction worker has recalled being forced to join the CFMEU and switch employers following a forced site shutdown over safety concerns raised by the union.
Whether safety concerns were leveraged by CFMEU delegates to install their preferred labour hire and traffic control companies is one focus of the royal commission into construction industry corruption in Victoria.
An initial 10-day hearing block is probing the circumstances of a work stoppage at the Gap Road level crossing removal in Sunbury, northwest of Melbourne, in June 2022.
Work ceased on the site for two days, before resuming again following a closed door meeting on June 7.
What happened at the meeting, what was promised, and who paid for it will be a key focus of the commission’s first hearing block, Commissioner Chris Kourakis SC said on Monday.
On Tuesday morning the commission heard evidence from Glenn Tyrrell who worked for labour hire company Zoom Recruitment on the Sunbury project and was elected as a health and safety representative for the site.
Mr Tyrrell told the commission less than a week after the forced stoppage he was called into a meeting where he was told both to sign on with new labour hire employer, BK Labour, and to become a member of the CFMEU.
“Did you join them?” counsel assisting Tim Jeffrie asked.
“Had to,” he replied.
Mr Tyrrell told the commission CFMEU organisers had effectively stopped work on the site, issuing dozens of safety notices and standing in front of machinery.
“Things changed when there was a fairly heavy presence of union on site,” he said.
“They just stopped works.”
Mr Tyrrell said there was no practical reason he could see why there needed to be a change of labour hire company after work resumed.
On Monday, the commission heard that prior to the meeting, traffic control at Gap Road was supplied by STA Traffic Management.
However, just four days after the meeting a new contractor, CCL, was retained to perform traffic control around the site, with workers paid roughly double the previous contractors rate.
A July 2022 briefing prepared for then Transport Minister and later Premier, Jacinta Allan warned a CFMEU campaign to increase pay rates for all traffic management workers would cost the state an additional $400 million.
A June 6, 2022 phone call from site manager, Neil Thompson to WorkSafe discussing the stoppage was played to the commission on Monday, in which he said CFMEU representatives had “effectively” ceased work by sitting on water barriers and refusing to move.
Mr Thompson said police had been called to help resolve the issue but had declined to intervene.
Minutes from a meeting held during the stoppage included a record of threats allegedly made to workers of contractor, Wagstaff, the commission was told.
“CFMEU are putting pressure on Wagstaff not to work tonight,” the minutes recorded.
“Said you guys better not turn up tonight, otherwise we will smash you during the day.”
On Tuesday, shadow attorney-general James Newbury criticised the high legal fees for ex-premiers Daniel Andrews and Jacinta Allan to be represented at the commission, and vowed not to pay their legal bills if elected.
He called for expanding the royal commission’s terms of reference to investigate the flow of money between unions, Labor, and the government.
“Today we are calling on Ben Carroll to release every document that the royal commission has asked from this government,” he said.
The commission’s final report is due in August 2027.
It was called by Victorian Premier Ben Carroll in August following years of reporting on alleged wrongdoing on Big Build sites linked to the CFMEU’s Victorian branch, which represents workers from the construction, forestry, mining and energy sectors.
AAP