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A CFMEU delegate allegedly threw a microwave in the break room at the major rail tunnel project in Brisbane – but there were other incidents on the Cross River Rail site viewed by a human resources investigation that recommended two union representatives be sacked.
Richie Atutolu, the man who allegedly threw the appliance and was notorious for bad behaviour, was hired by contractor CPB in August 2023, according to a senior human resources expert at firm Ghella, Nicole Watson, who was contracted on the rail project.
She told the commission of inquiry examining the CFMEU there were two other concerns involving Atutolu outside the microwave incident raised with her that featured in her investigation.
One involved the man threatening to fight a worker on site, saying words to the effect of, “Righto you wanna mouth off, get out the front and let’s go,” before storming out the front of the site and eventually cooling down.
Another incident also involved verbal threats and swearing.
A second investigation involved another safety representative on the Cross River Rail site at Boggo Road, Adam Langford, who stopped a crane company from coming onsite to complete prescheduled work in November 2024.
Watson said when she called Langford to tell him the decision would be made in the new year, she was surprised by his answer.
“Ah Nicole, I’m surprised they’re getting me on this, I’ve done heaps worse than this,” Watson recalled Langford saying.
Both Atutulo and Langford were let go from the project on Watson’s recommendation.
In August 2023, Watson said she started receiving complaints about union behaviour at the Northern Portal of the Boggo Road site, where a man had been seriously injured after falling from scaffolding.
She recalled to the inquiry that workers were reaching out to say they were being threatened by union organisers.
“I was advised by one CFMEU organiser, [Matthew] Vonhoff, who was standing about a foot away from my face, that he knows who I am, he knows my bike, he knows my registration bumper, and that he was coming after me,” a worker said of an incident on August 8, 2024.
Another said the union threatened them with violence if they refused to sign a new pay deal.
“Some CFMEU guys [sic] basically threatened if he doesn’t sign onto the CFMEU EBA they were going to bash him, and that’s when they showed him the weapons they were carrying, which were knives, guns and bats,” they allegedly told Watson.
Another email detailed men in balaclavas armed with knives and a handgun at the gate to the project around that time.
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