Update on ETU court win

In March this year, the Federal Court ruled that the lead contractor on the nation’s largest energy transmission project breached the Fair Work Act by repeatedly denying ETU officials the right to consult with lineworkers working under a labour hire arrangement on temporary visas in a remote NSW location.

The ETU brought the court application against the lead contractor the $1.8 billion EnergyConnect interconnector, Elecnor, after its project and construction managers repeatedly refused to allow union officials to speak to workers supplied by a third party on a labour hire agreement at the mixed business and housing complex attached to their worksite, which was overseen by a security guard.

The company claimed that the workers were not electrical workers and that the remote purpose-built camp was not a worksite but a “residential area”. The court dismissed this argument.

The ETU has been fighting this in the courts for a long time. It is crucial that employers and contractors behaving in such an outrageous way are held to account.

The Federal court has now ruled on penalties to be paid to the ETU by Elecnor for the contraventions. The Federal Court has directed Elecnor to pay the ETU $75,000 for the first contravention and then $50,000 for the second contravention – totalling $125,000 in penalties.

The ETU will always defend our members, defend our trades and ensure that all workers have the right to speak to their union. This is about fighting for worker safety, worker prosperity, a safe and just transition and fighting to ensure no employer stands in the way of that.

“This court decision is a message to every employer, financier, lead contractor or subcontractor working on Australia’s energy transition. The message is that Australia’s energy transition will fail unless it is built on reliable, well-paid union jobs that put workers’ safety, communities and families first. It is a warning that nobody wants an energy transition that compromises safety, that exploits workers, that locks out workers’ representatives and that breaks the law and disregards workers’ basic rights.” – Michael Wright, ETU National Secretary.