Building industry taskforce gets first conviction

BY MARGARITA WINDISCH

MELBOURNE — John Setka, vice-president of the Victorian branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), was found guilty on November 3 of issuing a threat against a project manager for construction giant Grocon and fined $500.

Melbourne magistrate Maurice Gurvich dismissed three other charges brought against Setka by the Howard government's Interim Building Industry Taskforce. The taskforce's role is to police unions on building sites.

All four charges against Setka were in relation to breaches of the Workplace Relations Act and arose out of an industrial dispute in 2002 with the construction company.

Setka has been a construction worker and an active unionist for 17 years. He has been a member of the CFMEU executive for the last three years.

Grocon provoked a dispute with the CFMEU when the company unsuccessfully tried to force construction workers at Grocon's Queen Victoria development site to vote for a non-union agreement. At the time of the dispute Setka was an organiser at the building site.

After Grocon's Queen Vic site workers voted against the non-union agreement in December 2002, Grocon boss Daniel Grollo told CFMEU state secretary Martin Kingham he would sign a union agreement if Setka was kept off the Queen Vic site.

Gurvich found that words used by Setka to Grocon's Queen Vic project manager, Frank Bortoletto, at the site on January 15, in which Setka had said he would "fix up" Bortoletto, amounted to an attempt to improperly influence the outcome of an Australian Industrial Relations Comission hearing in which Grocon was seeking to have Setka banned from the site.

Outside the court house, Setka was greeted by a large number of CFMEU members and supporters, who shouted: "Setka, not guilty; CFMEU here to stay!"

Kingham told the crowd that the court case against Setka was part of the federal government's declaration of war against the union movement. He noted that the government had brought six charges against the CFMEU and failed with five. Kingham made it clear that the CFMEU would not be intimidated by the taskforce. The CFMEU is yet to decide if an appeal will be launched against the Setka's conviction.

From Green Left Weekly, November 12, 2003.

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From GLW issue 561