Grocon found to have underpaid workers.    

Date
    November 5, 2012


BUILDER Grocon undervalued construction costs on a large inner-Melbourne project, leaving workers underpaid tens of thousands of dollars, an industry umpire has found.    

The state's biggest building union, already locked in a bitter dispute with Grocon, has inflamed tensions by saying the builder deliberately misled its workers and subcontractors over wages.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union also questioned whether the builder was paying its workers properly on other jobs and accused it of cutting corners.   

The Victorian Building Industry Disputes Panel on Friday found that Grocon was underpaying its workers on its site at McNab Avenue in Footscray.


Grocon had valued the project's construction costs at $80 million meaning that, under the workplace agreement, staff and subcontractors got a $3.70 hourly additional payment.

But the CFMEU disagreed with the project's cost value, saying it was in fact a $350 million project.

The union's industrial officer Raoul Wainwright argued before the disputes panel that all workers on the site were eligible for a higher hourly allowance.

The disputes panel agreed, saying the lower $80 million cost had represented only the project's first stage. The disputes panel chairman, Simon Williams, said it appeared to be ''somewhat disingenuous on Grocon's part to attempt to have the project value determined by the value of stage one''.

On Friday, he ordered Grocon to backpay money lost to Grocon employees and subcontractors, from May this year until now.    

''The attempt to fly under the radar and dud workers their entitlements would have saved Grocon half a million dollars over the life of the project,'' the union's assistant state secretary John Setka said. Another Grocon project, at Docklands, was now also under scrutiny, he said.

Mr Setka said the union ''won't stand for employers cutting corners when it comes to safety and workers' pay rates''.    

Grocon spokesman Michael Zorbas said that it took the pay and conditions of its employees very seriously, as well as its obligations before the building disputes tribunal.

He said Grocon's project team had considered valuing the first stage of the development at $80 million a reasonable basis for their calculations, but that the builder would now ''review the detail of the … decision and consider its application more broadly''.

The antagonism between the union and Grocon peaked earlier this year when they battled publicly in August and September over who got to choose health and safety representatives on its sites - the union or the employer.

On Friday, it emerged that the leadership of the CFMEU is preparing to renew its fight with Grocon. Mr Setka is believed to have told union delegates at a recent shop stewards' meeting the dispute was not over. He was careful to not detail what tactics the union would use next time.    

The CFMEU's blockade of Grocon's $290 million Emporium development in Lonsdale Street brought central Melbourne to a standstill in August. Grocon is suing the CFMEU for $10.5 million in damages.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/grocon-found-to-have-underpaid-workers-20121104-28s5x.html#ixzz2BHmcR2il

grocon actually have a very good name in the building industry.

occupational health and safety = code for blackmailing the employer and has little to do with either.

labor love it because firms like slater and gordon can extort gazillions every time an accident occurs and lets face it accidents occur far more through lack of common sense than failing to read some 1000 page occupational health and safety manual that is little more than a rule book for legal eagle picnics.

Your union are no angels imsook.

Grocon is seeking $10.5 million in damages from the union over its recent blockade of four Grocon building sites, including the $1.3 billion Myer Emporium.

In a separate case, the company is seeking contempt orders against the union for allegedly breaching two Supreme Court injunctions ordering an end to the blockade.

The building watchdog, Fair Work Building and Construction, has also launched court action seeking to have the construction union pay compensation to Grocon and subcontractors.

Hundreds of CFMEU members blockaded the Lonsdale St site between August 22 and September 6, prompting a heavy police guard and delaying work.

"We think it is appropriate for our industry that everyone -- employers, employees, unions -- follow the law. For the current (union) leadership in Victoria that is an odd concept," Mr Grollo said.

"There is no doubt we are a much more efficient industry if we are complying with the rule of law and that has benefits for all consumers."

Post for Aussie to find the thread.