CFMEU officials taken to court over alleged Big Build worksite coercion

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The embattled CFMEU and two senior officials have been taken to court by Fair Work after they allegedly threatened an Indigenous labour hire firm in an attempt to push it off Victorian government worksites.

The Fair Work Ombudsman said on Wednesday it had launched proceedings against the construction union and organisers Joel Shackleton and Gerry McCrudden, alleging they breached the Fair Work Act’s prohibition against coercion, making false or misleading representations about workplace rights, and acting in an improper manner as an entry permit holder.

The ombudsman’s Federal Court case comes after this masthead published a video last year in which Shackleton allegedly threatens to bash the owners of Indigenous labour hire firm Marda Dandhi, telling one he would “take your soul and I’ll rip your f---ing head off”.

McCrudden is heard in the video – published as part of the Building Bad investigation by this masthead, The Australian Financial Review and 60 Minutes – saying that labour hire firms without CFMEU backing would struggle to win work on Victoria’s Big Build projects because of the union’s agreements with large construction firms.

Police arrested Shackleton last September and charged him with making threats to inflict serious injury and threats to kill, which carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Shackleton is contesting the charges.

The Fair Work Ombudsman said the CFMEU’s alleged unlawful conduct between July 2021 and March 2022 related to two Victorian government Big Build projects: a level crossing removal at Ferguson Street in Williamstown, and the Monash Freeway Upgrade Project at O’Shea Road in Berwick.

The alleged coercion was intended to stop Marda Dandhi – which was aligned with the rival Australian Workers’ Union – from working on construction projects and from negotiating an enterprise agreement with the CFMEU.

Shackleton allegedly threatened one of Marda Dandhi’s owners during a phone call, and also “clenched his fists” at an owner in an attempt to coerce the firm, the FWO said.

The ombudsman also alleges Shackleton and McCrudden made unlawful misrepresentations during a “heated discussion” with two Marda Dandhi owners at the Victorian government’s Monash Freeway Upgrade Project construction site – the interaction that was caught on camera.

At the time, Marda Dandhi’ owners wrote to Premier Jacinta Allan in her former role as infrastructure minister, then-premier Daniel Andrews and then-federal opposition leader Anthony Albanese about the incident.

Allan did not respond until a year later, saying that industrial relations and subcontractor selection were the responsibility of contractor CPB.

Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth said the watchdog was seeking fines for multiple contraventions of the workplace laws, with the union facing penalties of up to $66,600 per breach and the two officials facing penalties of up to $13,320 per breach.

“The type of unlawful, coercive and threatening behaviour we are alleging in this matter will not be tolerated,” Booth said.

The ombudsman launched court action against the CFMEU and former Victorian secretary John Setka in February over Setka’s alleged attempts to coerce the AFL into sacking umpiring chief and former Australian Building and Construction Commission boss Steve McBurney.

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