Construction workers in Western Australia have been hit with the biggest individual fines ever imposed on striking workers in Australian history. The Federal Court has ordered the workers pay more than $1 million in fines for taking industrial action in 2008 against CBI Constructor Pty Ltd.

The workers walked off the job at Woodside’s $8 billion LNG project on the Burrup Peninsula. They struck for eight days after CBI refused to make redundancy payments and to re-employ workers for a new phase of construction. Both entitlements were provided for under the collective agreement negotiated by the CFMEU.

CBI and the Fair Work Building Industry Inspectorate, formerly the Australian Building and Construction Commission, alleged that the workers struck for a “long duration”, causing “significant economic losses and [p]roject delays”. In its decision, handed down on 20 September, the court ruled that the strike was illegal because it occurred before the collective agreement had expired. It found that workers “deliberately” ignored a return-to-work order issued by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.

Each worker was fined between $1,000 and $10,000. More than $680,000 in penalties must be paid within 60 days. Some workers have had their penalties, totalling around $320,000, suspended on condition they do not take industrial action for another three years.

Each worker has been ordered to “personally pay any penalty imposed” without indemnity from a “third party”, namely the CFMEU. The court is making an example of these workers, stating that that the penalty should be high enough to deter “similar contraventions by like-minded persons or organisations”. This is an unequivocal message to workers and unions.

In slamming a “concerted exercise aimed at disrupting the performance of work”, these appointed judges are setting the precedent for the future imposition of major penalties on workers involved in industrial action, particularly in sectors like construction and mining.

This decision is just one of the ways the ruling class has sought to intimidate workers from joining unions, let alone joining in industrial action to protect their rights.