The CFMEU and its former construction and general division Queensland branch president David Hanna have been fined more than $37,000 for threatening to continue industrial action against a construction company unless it agreed to a secret deal, with the court finding the union had a boundless disregard for the law.
The Federal Court has refused to suspend penalties against 50 workers who walked out to protest a colleague's sacking, fining each individual up to $1,500 for their unlawful industrial action at ExxonMobil's Longford gas conditioning plant last year.
More than 50 construction workers are facing penalties after the Federal Court found they took unlawful strike action when they attended a CFMEU rally at a Perth children's hospital construction site in 2013, but the union says the case is a complete "farce".
The CFMEU construction and general division's Victorian branch spent $13.1 million on legal costs in the 12 months to the end of last year, up more than five-fold from $2.3 million in 2014.
The Fair Work Act is "effectively useless" to counter picketing, according to a leading employer-clientele barrister who laments that police often turn "a blind eye" to what would normally be considered criminal conduct, while the High Court's chief justice has canvassed the utility of comparative law in the workplace legal arena.
The FWBC has dropped a substantial part of its case against NSW CFMEU leaders it is accusing of unlawfully entering a $65 million construction project based on "unfounded immigration and superannuation concerns".
An FWC full bench majority has overruled a presidential member's refusal to issue an entry permit to a CFMEU organiser, saying he set a "higher bar" than usual because of the union's adverse track record.
The Federal Court has imposed a $61,000 fine on the CFMEU, senior official Joe McDonald and workers at a Perth construction site after a walkout to protest being docked four hours' pay for starting work less than 30 minutes late after a union meeting.
