More than 100 unionists rallied in freezing conditions outside the ACT Magistrates Court on August 5 in support of Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) official John Lomax.
Lomax was charged with blackmail last month in relation to evidence given to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. He pleaded not guilty.
The charges follow the arrest of former CFMEU organiser Fihi Kivalu on blackmail charges following allegations that he demanded bribes from ACT builders to secure them work.
Court documents allege Lomax made an “unwarranted demand with menace” to Canberra subcontractor Nel Trading run by Woong Yul Park to sign an enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) with the CFMEU last year. The documents allege this was done with the “intention of causing a loss”.
“As Nel Trading was a new company, Mr Park believed that if he did not comply with the demand to sign the CFMEU EBA, his company would face financial ruin and would be unable to continue trading,” court documents say.
The court documents allege Park suffered a financial loss as a result of signing the EBA. “Due to being tied to EBA-mandated wages, the lowest he can pay his workers is $26 an hour”, whereas Park claims he could have paid only $17 an hour.
A leaflet distributed by the CFMEU in support of Lomax said: "Union organising is not a crime.
"Johnny Lomax has been arrested. His crime? Negotiating and securing improvements in working conditions and wages for union members.
"This is a direct attack from the [Tony] Abbott government on our ability to protect our wages and our safety at work.”
National secretary of the construction division of the CFMEU Dave Noonan, who was part of the union rally outside the court, said Lomax had nothing to be ashamed of.
“This is a rally of support, showing community concern about the fact that for merely asking for better wages and conditions for workers, a person can be facing criminal charges,” he said.
“This is the use of criminal law to try to intimidate unionists and workers from trying to strive for better wages and conditions.
“John Lomax is not accused of doing anything to put one cent in his own pocket.”
He said that Nel Trading had been forced to pay its workers thousands of dollars in backpay in 2013 after they appealed for help from the CFMEU because they were being underpaid.
UnionsACT secretary Alex White said: "There are two very troubling issues regarding the charges against Lomax, firstly relating to workplace safety, and the second relating to the undue and unprecedented attempt to criminalise normal industrial activity.
"This may sound arcane but in both instances there has, literally, never been criminal charges laid against a union official seeking to collectively bargain.
"In around 80 years of Australia's industrial relations system, the industrial tribunal — currently called the Fair Work Commission — has always dealt with industrial matters, including with accusations like the ones that Lomax has been charged with."
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