A High Court judge has ruled that a building company has not produced sufficient evidence "at this stage" to show that the Building and Allied Trades Union (Batu) leadership was involved in organising unlawful actions related to the company's refusal to directly hire workers on its sites and to instead engage sub-contractors.
On that basis, Mr Justice Frank Clarke yesterday refused to grant an injunction against Batu restraining it from engaging in unlawful activity on sites operated by Collen Construction Ltd.Collen had sought the injunction pending the outcome of the full hearing of legal proceedings brought by it against Batu arising from pickets of various Collen sites earlier this year. Batu argued there was no need for such an injunction as it was not engaged in unlawful activities.
While refusing the injunction, the judge said Collen may be able to produce at the full hearing further evidence to support its claims against Batu. However, because there was no sufficient evidence at this point, he would refuse the order.
He also pointed out that evidence by unnamed persons who had made a number of allegations about Batu in affidavits on behalf of Collen was hearsay and would not be admissible at the full hearing.
In reaching his findings, the judge observed there was "a significant body" of evidence to suggest that those persons involved in the disputed activities against Collen were politically motivated. There was no evidence to suggest there was a link between the leadership of Batu and those persons.
