As garbage collectors continue to strike in Sydney, waste management firm Cleanaway could be hit with hefty fines for allegedly blocking union members from protesting.
In a Federal Court lawsuit filed last week, the NSW branch of the Transport Workers' Union is seeking maximum penalties of $125,000 against the firm which is in the middle of a protracted dispute over better pay and conditions.
As of Tuesday, around 35,000 bins were left uncollected around the City of Sydney as the strikes stretched into their second week.
The union claims Cleanaway stalled proposed industrial action last year by failing to comply with the terms of orders by the Fair Work Commission that allowed members at sites at Erskine Park and Hillsdale to vote on what protest they wished to occur.
"The union will be pushing for the maximum penalty to act as a deterrent given Cleanaway knowingly breached its obligations and has a history of poor conduct, attacks on worker and attempts to disempower union members. Clearly this company must be brought to heel," TWU NSW/Queensland secretary Richard Olsen told AAP.
Employees at both sites are in negotiations spearheaded by the TWU for new enterprise bargaining agreements.
Cleanaway was allegedly required to provide a list of employees covered by the proposed action by December 14, 2022. It did not do so until five days later in two separate breaches of the Fair Work Act, the union claims.
The union was then unable to say which industrial action had been approved at a ballot scheduled to occur on December 20.
"Cleanaway's failure to meet its obligations to workers and the Fair Work Commission prevented workers from accessing their legal rights to protected industrial action for a month," Mr Olsen said.
"Those workers are now locked in an ongoing battle for sustainable pay and conditions despite two years without a pay increase."
The TWU has previously asked the FWC to intervene so that Cleanaway commenced bargaining with workers, and had fought for the reinstatement of an elected worker representative after he was unfairly sacked by the firm, he said.
The union will also lodge a claim of an additional breach with the FWC after the waste management company allegedly walked away from negotiations and tried to block the involvement of legal bargaining representatives.
"Rather than clocking up legal bills, Cleanaway should negotiate in good faith and respect its workers, so that last resort industrial action is never needed," Mr Olsen said.
Cleanaway did not respond to a request for comment.
