A Federal Court judge has labelled militant union the CFMEU a “well-resourced, recidivist offender” after three construction officials were fined over workplace breaches at the site of a major freeway upgrade. Justice John Snaden fined the construction union and officials Paul Tzimas, Gerald McCrudden and James Harris a combined $108,980 after they admitted to contravening labour laws at sites run by infrastructure giant McConnell Dowell. CFMEU members and delegates voted through a new enterprise bargaining agreement last week.
Credit: Eamon Gallagher The court heard Tzimas and McCrudden had entered the Mordialloc Freeway upgrade site on November 18, 2020, and raised concerns about safety issues, including emergency plans they claimed were inadequate and the use of a metal they said could cause the deadly lung disease silicosis. Tzimas and McCrudden brought their concerns to a health and safety manager who, according to Tzimas, told them that workers would only be at risk from the metal if they were “lying on the ground licking the road”. “Mr Tzimas did not react well to [health and safety manager] Ms Canatta’s observation,” Sanden found.
“[Tzimas] responded by saying to Mr Shanley and Ms Canatta, ‘You’re pathetic’ and ’You’re a disgrace,’” court documents say. McCrudden told the court that safety managers at the site said work should continue while the issues were addressed, to which he responded: “You’re f---ed this time.” In a separate i.
