Fridge fight shows builders' union woes
Fair Work Building and Construction says a CFMEU official kicked workers out of a lunch shed and threw their food on the ground on a site in Queensland, because they were not union members.
FWBC has alleged in Federal Circuit Court that CFMEU official Scott Vink padlocked the lunch shed, declaring that “sheds were won by unionists for unionists”.
FWBC claims that Mr Vink, the CFMEU and the CFMEU Queensland broke the law on four occasions each when Mr Vink obstructed workers by locking them out of the site shed.
Reports say the CFMEU official entered the Pacific Fair redevelopment project site in Queensland on the pretence of investigating safety concerns, but instead went straight for the smoko shed.
He allegedly insisted non-union members could not access the shed and began dumping their possessions from the shed onto the ground outside.
Mr Vink allowed one worker, named Neil, to leave his food in the shed’s fridge because “Neil’s a union member and that’s how fridges came about on sites mate,” the Court heard.
Some of the property was returned to the shed, making Mr Vink allegedly outraged.
He told one OHS manager to “get out of the f***en shed” a number of times.
FWBC says mr Vink took food that had been returned to the shed, including two cartons of milk, and dumped them onto the pile of workers’ possessions outside.
Mr Vink then allegedly tried to force the Health & Safety Manager out of the chair he was sitting in, saying: “Get out of the shed you scab... you’re a f***ken piece of sh*t mate.”
The Court heard that when the Manager tried to return cold food items to the fridge, Mr Vink yelled: “What did I just f***en say mate? Get this sh*t out of the f***en shed. Don’t make it any worse.”
“It’s a pretty easy f***en fix boys,” Mr Wink allegedly told the non-union workers.
“Anyone on this job’s in the f***en union. Those sheds were won by f***en unionists.
“Where do you think people used to sit; under a f***en tree. You can go p**s in a bucket for all I care,” he said, before padlocking the shed.
FWBC Director Nigel Hadgkiss it is the latest in a long string of union officials using safety concerns as an excuse to get on site for other purposes.
“Union officials who hold a right of entry permit are in a privileged position. All we ask is that they obey the law,” Mr Hadgkiss said.