Howard's anti-union building Taskforce takes a hammering

The farcical and anti-union nature of the Howard Government's 
building industry Taskforce was well and truly exposed in the 
Sydney District Court recently when a Judge dismissed 48 of 49 
charges brought by the Taskforce against the Construction, 
Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and an organiser. The 
anti-union exercise is estimated to have cost the taxpayer around 
$100,000.

The case began with dozens of charges against the CFMEU and its 
youngest organiser Joe Brcic and dwindled to one charge of 
unlawful industrial action at the finish.

This had come about as the organiser mistakenly believed that 
protected industrial action notices were in place, where in fact 
there had been an administrative error. This point had already 
been conceded by the CFMEU in an Australian Industrial Relations 
Commission hearing earlier.

In fining the CFMEU $2,000 for the technical offence, Judge 
Hughes was critical of the way that the Federal Government's 
Taskforce had handled the case.

He used the word "provocation" in reference to the manner in 
which the Taskforce Inspector had handled the matter.

The CFMEU has called on the Federal Government to stop attacking 
the union and its delegates and to focus instead on industry 
issues such as the poor safety record of the industry with one 
worker being killed every week.

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Common Cause, April/May 2004