Union " bully boy " tactics.

Another battle in the never ending war between the unions and the rest of the world. Three organizers of the notoriously militant Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy union ( CFMEU ) were found guilty in the Federal court of breaches of the Trade Practices Act and the Workplace Relations act in September and October of 2003.
These organizers tried to intimidate a building company by insisting that all workers on the site must be members of a union. The demand was backed up with the threat that unless this was agreed the builder could expect " industrial action and general disruption ".
The builder stood his ground - and as a result the site was shut down on two occasions when one of the organisers parked his car to block site access.
The CFMEW disputes this claim and denies that it tried to make the site a " closed shop ". It further claims that the two shut downs were legitimate actions as a result of a safety issue.
The unions have never accepted the law that makes membership of a union a matter of choice for each individual. There have been countless cases of union muscle being invoked to force a " closed shop " union coverage of work sites - and to enforce this some draconian action has been used in past disputes. This has included a mass walkout in the middle of a concrete pour - often resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars damages and massive delays to completion dates.
Building companies have good reason to fear a union sabotage campaign and in the past some old and highly respected contracting companies have been forced into bankruptcy by such tactics.
Where we go from here depends heavily on how the courts react when it comes to punishment. Should they impose a slap on the wrist the unions will be encouraged to dish out more of the same.
Should they come down heavily the unions will probably react by increasing their advertising campaign to try and tip the Federal government out of office and install Kevin Rudd as prime minister.
Union action at the present time is a two edged sword. Rudd is desperately trying to coax the unions to be peaceful prior to this election because he knows many people fear that a Labor government would be controlled by the unions,
If the unions go on the rampage that could be the welcome news that John Howard prays for !