A high-ranking union official is the subject of Federal Court action launched by government entity Fair Work Building and Construction.  CFMEU and four of its officials, including Queensland state secretary Michael Ravbar, are alleged to have undertaken a targeted and co-ordinated operation to disrupt the work of a crane company that had refused to sign up to a union-scripted enterprise agreement.  FWBC director Nigel Hadgkiss said in a statement the brazen and calculated nature of the alleged conduct was of grave concern and reflected a serious disregard for workplace laws.  It's alleged that in 2012 Mr Ravbar and then assistant state secretary Peter Close identified building contractors who didn't agree to sign union agreements and tried to stop them from working.  One of the businesses was a crane operator working on Brisbane's road tunnel Legacy Way.  It's alleged a CFMEU organiser attended the site and told the site supervisor "You need to get this crane off this job" and "Well, it needs to go. [The crane company] is a 'non-EBA company'."  On another visit, CFMEU officials physically blocked the crane while the union is also accused of attempting to have the crane company removed from the upgrade of the Gateway Motorway.  Two union officials colluded to identify a safety issue to prevent a crane from operating.  Mr Hadgkiss said they were serious allegations that pointed to a deliberate and co-ordinated strategy to coerce contractors into signing union agreements,.  "It is unacceptable that a contractor be targeted with adverse action for simply seeking to make an agreement directly with its workers," he said.  It's not the first time the CFMEU has come under the scrutiny of the FWBC.  Last month, a CFMEU official was facing legal action over a cancelled concrete pour on a Brisbane construction site at the RNA showgrounds in January 2015.  In Sepetmber, the CFMEU was temporarily banned from striking outside Brisbane building sites managed by a major contractor.  The Fair Work Building Commission successfully brought an injunction against the union that prevented it from holding a month-long spate of strikes and work stoppages outside sites run by Hutchinson Builders.
CFMEU Queensland's state secretary Michael Ravbar is included in legal action launched by a government entity over union pressure on a crane business.