RAIL - Back On Track Forum

TMR Event invaded by CFMEU protestors

A security guard was knocked down.
TMR employees had to hide.

All further TMR industry events have been cancelled for this week.

The Transport Minister was scheduled to make the QTRIP Opening Address at 10:05am [according to the news bulletin who received the run-sheet from Senior TMR personnel], but denies he was going to attend.

Courier-Mail story..
"Mr Bailey, who has attended the QTRIP event each year barring 2020 due to Covid measures, said he was not due to be at the event on Tuesday due to ministerial commitments and had sent through a prerecorded address instead."

Couriermail --> Hundreds of CFMEU protesters storm Transport and Main Roads building in Brisbane CBD $

QuotePublic servants have been put at risk, a government building forced to lock down and events cancelled after hundreds of militant construction union members stormed a CBD building in a protest gone awry.

The Department of Transport and Main Roads confirmed "more than" 200 CFMEU members held a protest at the government's Mary St offices on Tuesday about 9am before forcibly entering the building.

This included knocking down a security guard — who was not seriously injured — and exposing staff members to "upsetting and unacceptable" behaviour.

Photos have since emerged of protesters inside the building.

Transport Minister Mark Bailey, who was not in the building at the time, confirmed some staff were trapped in a server room to get away from protesters. ...

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1562452554478678027

https://twitter.com/MarkBaileyMP/status/1562607225113579522

Couriermail --> CFMEU protesters stormed CBD building for 'nothing more' than having a say union claims $

QuoteThe storming of a Brisbane CBD government building by hundreds of militant construction union members was "nothing more" than workers "having a say", a major trade union behind the protest gone awry has claimed.

An unapologetic Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), in a statement on Thursday, launched a blistering attack on Transport Minister Mark Bailey and the head of the Transport and Main Roads department Neil Scales in a bid to justify protest action earlier in the week.

Public servants working within the Transport and Main Roads (TMR) headquarters on Mary St were put at risk, a security guard knocked down, the building locked down, and events cancelled after more than 200 CFMEU members forcibly entered the office block on Tuesday about 9am. ...

Didn't they just get a huge amount of work through CRR?

Updated:  https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/cfmeu-protesters-stormed-cbd-building-for-nothing-more-than-having-a-say-union-claims/news-story/979ac0a3db97094ff9d496b4c0ec475e

QuoteUnionists who stormed a Brisbane CBD government owe affected public servants an apology Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has said, slamming the behaviour of protesters as "disgraceful".

Public servants working within the Transport and Main Roads headquarters on Mary St were put at risk, a security guard knocked down, the building locked down, and events cancelled after more than 200 CFMEU members forcibly entered the office block on Tuesday about 9am.

The CFMEU on Thursday said the incident was "nothing more" than workers "having a say".

Ms Palaszczuk, in Maryborough, this morning said she would have "hated" being a staff member caught up in the CFMEU protest.

"I absolutely condemn that behaviour, it is disgraceful, it is putting workers' safety at risk," she said.

"(The protesters) owe an apology to those workers who were subjected to that and felt unsafe."

Earlier, an unapologetic Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), in a statement, launched a blistering attack on Transport Minister Mark Bailey and the head of the Transport and Main Roads department Neil Scales in a bid to justify protest action earlier in the week. ...

Better do it on ZOOM next time, and ticket the event as well!   

Quote from: #Metro on August 25, 2022, 12:01:32 PMDidn't they just get a huge amount of work through CRR?

There's been a number of jobs/projects that tmr have consulted various unions over (enterprise agreements, required safety agreements that the contractor has to follow, allowing reps to access the job site without filling out lots of paperwork/notifying etc etc etc) only to at the last minute ignore most of the consultation as tenders went to contractors that don't favour unions or they were excluded from it. Think of it as we are a union trying to get a FOI request out of the contractor CRR who just wants to be difficult. 

CRR has its own problem with the unions as the contractor was difficult on a number of occasions over varying issues such as cement dust and air quality.

https://twitter.com/MarkBaileyMP/status/1562702723426156544

Brisbanetimes --> Queensland Premier hits out at CFMEU protest

QuoteThe behaviour of CFMEU protesters inside a state government building was disgraceful and affected workers are owed an apology, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.

Workers' safety was likely put at risk when Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union members entered the Transport and Main Roads building in Brisbane on Tuesday morning, Palaszczuk said. ...

ABC News --> Queensland opposition calls on Labor to hand CFMEU donations to anti-bullying charity after protesters entered government building

QuoteQueensland's Premier has not ruled out handing back donations from a powerful union after hundreds of workers "stormed" a government office building in Brisbane.

Annastacia Palaszczuk said she would no longer meet with the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CMFEU), after members "forcibly" entered the Transport and Main Roads (TMR) building on Mary Street and staged a protest ahead of an industry briefing on Tuesday.

The LNP said Labor should give hundreds of thousands of dollars in CFMEU donations to an anti-bullying charity if it was serious in its condemnation of the rally. ...