Qld CFMEU inquiry told that bosses’ bikies terrorised worker |
Administration was imposed on the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) in Queensland in 2024, because it supposedly brought bikies into the industry as union enforcers.
However, the August 18–25 hearings of the Queensland Liberal National Party government’s commission of inquiry revealed that a major contractor had been responsible for bringing in bikies, who intimidated members of the CFMEU.
It revealed the bosses’ campaign against a union that has consistently stood up for its members.
The inquiry focus was on a 2024 dispute at the Centenary Bridge site in Magan-djin/Brisbane, where, on June 5, three people claiming to be leaders of the Comancheros bikie gang flew from Naarm/Melbourne to Magan-djin and were accompanied to the site by Gary Samuel, from Host Group, one of the groups providing security.
The bikies allegedly made death and arson threats against Cody Raymond, a Georgiou Group-employed crane driver and CFMEU member.
CCTV footage and mobile phone records appear to show construction outfit BMD Group’s regional general manager Rob Pickard and human resources manager Steve Thomas near the bikies before the incident, including them all walking to the site.
A commission lawyer suggested that Thomas had pointed Raymond out to the bikies and arranged for workers to stop anyone else coming into the site.
BMD, the largest family owned business in the civil construction industry in Australia, was the leading company in the joint venture on the site.
The establishment media initially reported the bikie threats against Raymond in August 2024 and again when the........