The High Court has refused the CFMEU special leave to challenge last year's Victorian Court of Appeal finding that the Boral group could rely on the tort of intimidation to recover millions in damages for concrete supply bans.
A CFMEU organiser who threatened to "go to war" with a sub-contractor on the Royal Adelaide Hospital project was in contempt of an order banning him from the site, the Federal Court has ruled.
The FWC has ordered CFMEU construction and general division WA branch secretary Mick Buchan to amend his application for a new entry permit after finding he failed to declare four active court proceedings against him.
The Federal Court has criticised the CFMEU for its "deplorable" approach to complying with the law, ordering it to pay a penalty of more than $100,000 for a series of breaches on a wind farm construction site and to stop interfering in the project.
The FWC has refused to issue a new entry permit to an AMWU organiser who engaged in "egregious" conduct during the notorious Westgate Bridge dispute in 2009, and has described as "baffling" a 2011 decision to grant him a permit.
The FWC has issued a new, unconditional entry permit to the CFMEU construction and general division's Queensland leader, rejecting the building watchdog's argument that it should be withheld because of union conduct that has attracted more than $900,000 in fines during his eight years as "ringmaster".
In further legal fallout from the 2012 Grocon dispute, the Federal Court has ruled that the CFMEU and eight of its officials unlawfully coerced the company to agree to its demand to employ union-nominated shop stewards when they blocked access to the Myer Emporium and McNab Avenue sites.
The Heydon Royal Commission has begun referring its interim findings against unions and individuals to police and other investigatory authorities, including ASIC and the ACCC.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's secondary boycott case against the CFMEU construction and general division's Victorian branch has been set down for a six-week trial in September next year.
Senior Victorian Government Minister Robert Clark has told the HR Nicholls Society that he has drawn on all three of his portfolios to combat bad behaviour in the building industry and has flagged changes to strengthen the guidelines for contractors seeking state government work.
