A South Australian business and the state's construction union have been penalised $384,000 over an unlawful picketing during the building of apartments on Adelaide's East Terrace.
Federal Court Justice Patrick O'Sullivan slammed the CFMEU's history of contraventions and set a costly fine because the union "has not taken heed of repeated penalties and judicial criticism".
The picketing, which Justice O'Sullivan found was premeditated, stemmed from a pay dispute between Adelaide builder Joe Sommariva and a subcontractor who worked on the $27 million project overlooking the parklands.
A group of 20 to 30 people, some wearing CFMEU clothing and waving union flags, attended the protest, yelling and blocked workers from entering the site on October 16, 2019.
Core-Form Construction manager Andrew Sneath at the time said he was owed about $180,000 for work done on the site but Mr Sommariva alleged the works were incomplete.
Mr Sneath said he was forced to lay off 17 people to stay afloat.
The court heard the protesters shouted "grubby-grub-grub" and "pay your bills", harassed a female employee and yelled "sell your Porsche" at a lawyer working with Mr Sommariva.
The protest was ruled an unlawful picket when the group stopped a painter from driving into the site and delivering supplies for 19 minutes.
Judge criticises union's repeated conduct
CFMEU, its state secretary Andrew Sutherland, Core-Form and Mr Sneath each admitted to organising the unlawful picketing.
The court found the union's conduct was "serious, deliberate and unjustified".
"This offending is both another example and a continuation of the union's appalling behaviour (whether in this form or in its pre-2018 amalgamation with The Maritime Union of Australia)," Justice O'Sullivan wrote.
"This is the fifth time Mr Sutherland has engaged in behaviour which contravenes industrial legislation."
Justice O'Sullivan set a penalty of $189,000 for the union and $38,000 for Mr Sutherland.
He found that Core-Form and Mr Sneath's behaviour was "objectively serious" and directed them to pay $132,000 and $25,000 respectively.
Australian building and construction commissioner Stephen McBurney said Core-Form and the union could have sought advice and assistance from the commission to resolve their concerns.
"Instead, they resorted to an unlawful picket, which the judge described as pre-meditated," Mr McBurney said.
