Court orders CFMEU to pay Boral AU$9 million as compensation

The Victorian Supreme court has ordered the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union to pay a compensation amount of AU$9 million to Boral Limited for the damages it caused to the company. The court has also ordered CFMEU to stop interfering in the supply of the company’s goods and services and has barred it from restraining workers from using Boral products at any of the Victorian work site.

The injunction will last for three years. It follows an industrial dispute with the construction company Grocon, which prompted the Victoria branch of the union to ban the use of Boral products. Boral has so long been the exclusive supplier of building and construction materials of Grocon.

The three-year settlement, ordered by the Supreme Court, has been described as “ground-breaking” by the CEO and Managing Director of Boral, Mike Kane.

"This agreement is a huge step in the multi-year effort to re-establish the rule of law on Melbourne construction sites," he said in a statement. "We will now be protected against illegal interference in serving our customers. We have fought long and hard to get to the point where we can start to reclaim our position in the Melbourne CBD and we look forward to working with those customers that have felt unable to do so because of the ban."

Under the agreement, CFMEU will be required to announce the end of its interference in the delivery of Boral products for the period of next three years through a press release on its website. The statement by CFMEU needs to make it clear to the market that suppliers can be chosen freely by construction businesses without having to fear any form of restraint imposed by the union.

But the settlement has been described as humiliation for Kane by a CFMEU spokesperson.

"Boral has claimed losses of over AU$23 million dollars, yet the matter has been settled for $4 million," the CFMEU said in a statement. "Mr Kane's ideological campaign against the union has been damaging Boral's reputation for that entire time. Shareholders will be breathing a sigh of relief now Mr Kane will be able to spend more time focusing on the financial future of Boral rather than waging ideological wars against the union movement."

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