ACTU boss Sally McManus attracted controversy by opposing "unfair" laws on industrial action. Credit:ABC During her interview on ABC's 7.30 Report this week, Ms McManus said the CFMEU was fined more for strike action than the company Grocon paid for "killing five workers" on its sites. Grocon and the CFMEU have fought a bitter industrial battle in Melbourne that has included unlawful strikes but also a secondary boycott against concrete company Boral which also has prompted criminal charges. The statement from Grocon said Ms McManus's statement was "manifestly untrue". The company said the Victorian Coroner's Court confirmed in 2014 there were no workplace safety issues involved in the death of a crane driver, William Ramsay, on Grocon's Emporium building site in February, 2013.

Firemen and workers with bare hands frantically dig into the fallen brick wall in Swanston Street in 2013. Credit:Ken Irwin It said WorkSafe had also confirmed Grocon's conduct did not cause a wall to collapse on a Swanston Street footpath, killing three people. However the Swanston Street case did see a Grocon subsidiary fined $250,000 after it pleaded guilty to failing to ensure a safe workplace. Grocon has demanded that Sally McManus correct her statement Credit:LUIS ENRIQUE ASCUI Ms McManus sparked controversy when she told ABC's 7.30 on Wednesday that she believed in the rule of law "where the law's fair, where the law's right, but when it's unjust, I don't think there's a problem with breaking it".

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull continued his criticisism of the comments on Friday saying her statements were from "a union leader who said the unions are above the law". Not happy: Malcolm Turnbull says he can't work with Sally McManus "She believes that you only have to have to obey the law, or unions only have to obey the law, if they agree with it," he told radio 3AW. "What she has done is defied the whole rule of law and this is the culture of thuggery and lawlessness that the CFMEU, of course is the great example of, and this is the culture of the union movement, it is the culture of the Labor party in 2017. "This is a nation governed by the rule of law and if she thinks if she and her unions are above the law then there is not much work we can do with her, I am afraid."

Federal Labor spokesman on employment Brendan O'Connor, the brother of CFMEU national secretary Michael O'Connor, supported Opposition leader Bill Shorten's criticism of law breaking behaviour. "When you have a bad law, you change it. The only way to change unjust laws is to change the government," Mr O'Connor said. National secretary for the Rail Tram and Bus Union, Bob Nanva, who is affiliated to the right-wing of the Labor Party accused Mr Turnbull of "confected anger" in response to Ms McManus's comments. He said Mr Turnbull and business groups had expressed no outrage about law-breaking companies who were underpaying workers. "Once upon a time [Prime Minister] Malcolm Turnbull stood up in court to defend an alleged traitor and challenged the validity of laws made by the British Parliament," Mr Nanva said.



"Now he's just another rich conservative cutting the pay of vulnerable workers, giving tax breaks to multinationals, and waging war on unions."

Mr Nanva said Mr Turnbull's statements contradicted those he made when defending Peter Wright, author of the "Spy Catcher" novel. "In his public defence of ... Peter Wright, Malcolm Turnbull said that 'the issue of principle is whether you have a sensible approach' to laws around classified information," Mr Nanva said.



"In other words, Malcolm Turnbull used to believe that it's OK to challenge, and even break, laws which are not sensible.



"Now he believes people should accept whatever laws are in place, and he says has 'nothing in common' with the values of people who stand up against the misuse of power." Mr Nanva said Ms McManus was "one hundred per cent right – when laws are unjust, unfair and discriminatory, then they must be challenged". "The RTBU stands proudly with Sally McManus, and we will always fight against the misuse of power and authority," he said. ACTU President Ged Kearney also threw her support behind Ms McManus on Friday.

"Sally McManus has my full support, the support of the entire Australian union movement, and from her colleagues at the Australian Council of Trade Unions," Ms Kearney said. Community and Public Sector Union National Secretary Nadine Flood said Australia's "one-sided industrial relations laws are not working, as is clearly demonstrated by the fact that enterprise bargaining in Commonwealth agencies is still not resolved after well over three years". "For most working people, particularly women and low-paid workers, those laws are delivering fewer rights, declining living standards, job insecurity and ever tougher lives," she said. With Amy Remeikis and Tom McIlroy