VIC: CFMEU Picket

CFMEU state secretary Bill Oliver said today that while there had been reports that construction workers had punched horses during the confrontation with police, they were just defending themselves amid the panic as they tried to avoid being trampled.

He also accused Grocon and the State Government of provoking the clashes, while Grocon head Daniel Grollo accused the union of mounting an "illegal blockade".

"What we've seen here this morning is Daniel Grollo's industrial relations, Mr Oliver said.

"This is what he wants for every Victorian construction worker - violence and thuggery on building sites.

"We have been down here for seven days, it's been a peaceful demonstration, and not once has Grocon tried to enter this site.

"We are back in the Supreme Court this morning, and there's no doubt that this was a stunt all organised by Daniel Grollo, organised by the State Government, to take on construction workers.

"This dispute is about construction workers allowed to go to their job safely, not to go onto construction sites and be stood over every day of the week."

He said today’s barricade was all about protecting workers’ rights. He said the workers had been banned from wearing union stickers on the work site, and from flying the union’s flag.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said police were attempting to assist Grocon employees to safely cross the picket line and enter their workplace.

A number of workers were sprayed with OC foam as the two groups came face to face in a tense stand-off this morning. Union members said they had been sprayed with OC foam during the scuffles with police.

Some protesters at the site began dispersing and going back to their jobs around the city about 8.30am, however a picket line is expected to remain throughout the day.

A union leader said through a microphone: "Go back and tell your boss that all this grief has been caused by Daniel Grollo."

Update 30 August 2012
Tender process 'eased for Grollo'

A former registrar of Victoria's Building Practitioners Board has alleged construction tsar Daniel Grollo was given preferential treatment in a $100 million tender to rebuild houses destroyed in the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009.

Peter Brilliant, who resigned in May, claims senior executives of the Building Commission, which oversees the board, had ordered that Mr Grollo be registered as a domestic builder and demolisher despite not being properly accredited.