Friday, April 16, 2010

ABCC intimidates workers over Easter

CFMEU Date: 15 April 2010

The intimidatory tactics of the ABCC have sunk to a new low with the news that dozens of workers were served threatening letters by the agency on the eve of the Easter break.

Workers at two Bovis Lend Lease jobs were visited at their homes by process servers and served letters threatening them with prosecution and fines of $13,200 if they did not contact the ABCC and agree to act as informants against their workmates and union officials.

The timing was no accident. According to the letter, if they did not agree to become informants by Easter Tuesday, the ABCC would prosecute them. This gave workers no reasonable opportunity to obtain legal advice by the deadline.

What the ABCC was attempting to do was obvious - they wanted to use the threat of fines to split the workers from each other and their union. And they wanted to intimidate working families on their holidays.

To their credit, the workers met on their return to work and resolved not to buckle under to ABCC intimidation. They will have the full support of their union in standing up to the tin pot Hitlers at the ABCC.

For further information

Contact: Dave Noonan, National Secretary
http://cfmeu.asn.au/

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