Russell Pickering, Perth
Mal Peters, the only remaining worker-elected occupational health and safety (OHS) representative on the Leighton Kumagai-run Perth-to-Mandurah rail construction project was sacked on August 8 after criticising fines that may be imposed on him and 106 fellow workers by the Australian Building Construction Commission (see article on back page).
Upon returning to work that week, after taking two weeks' annual leave to address the Australian Council of Trade Unions; the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) national leadership; and workers and other unions in three states about the impact of the federal government's anti-worker laws, Peters was notified by management that, for "operational reasons", his services were no longer required.
WA state secretary of the CFMEU Kevin Reynolds told the media on August 9, "This is a case of an employer using the government's new IR laws to intimidate and threaten any worker who wants to speak out about the government's laws. The fact that he is the OHS officer on the site just makes this worse ... Big businesses like Leighton can use these laws to sack people at will for standing up for their civil rights."
Peters told Green Left Weekly: "I've probably been singled out because I have raised a number of safety issues from day one. I've always gone through the right procedure and when I can't [resolve the issue] I've usually gone to Work Safe ... to make sure."
"Since these IR laws have come out, Leighton has developed a heavy-handed approach to workers", he added. "I never expected that it would ever get to this stage and that's why I put my hand up with my wife and my family to say this is what is happening to us here in the west and can quite easily spread like cancer to the rest of the states very shortly. We need to get the word out there that these laws need changing."
Peters told GLW that he had been singled out by the company "because I am professional in what I do and I've been doing it long enough; I know construction like the back of my hand". He believes Leighton Kumagai has undermined on-site safety by victimising other elected safety representatives also. "As soon as they brought any incidences to me or raised them with management ... they'd be severely shafted, sent to other areas and victimised because they opened their mouths. It happened to nearly every one of them."
Peters said that Leighton has been able to victimise his workmates because of the government's new laws, which allow Leighton Kumagai to be a law unto itself.
As part of his job, Peters liaised regularly with the company's own safety advisors, "but [Leighton] has gone through so many of them. Anyone who has been deemed to be doing anything to help my side of things usually had their contract terminated. Safety doesn't come first any more. It's production and that's it."
Reynolds committed the CFMEU to "stand by Mal and his family. We believe this is clearly a case of Mal being sacked for carrying out his legislated duties as a WA OHS representative and for just speaking out about the federal
government's work laws."
The state government has ordered an inquiry, to be undertaken by Work Safe, into Peters' sacking.