August 16, 2009
Issue
SYDNEY — Four construction workers, Nigel Gould, Peter Carr, Peter Riikonen and Andrew Jones who were sacked from the Thiess Services soil remediation project in Rhodes in June, were granted a "confidential settlement" on August 10. The workers are all members of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU).
The workers were sacked for refusing to sign a non-union collective agreement that sharply cut their conditions in return for a paltry 1% pay rise. The CFMEU had organised weekly pickets, every Thursday, outside the site since the workers were sacked.
Details of the settlement, including whether the workers have been reinstated in their jobs, has not yet been revealed by either the company or the union.