When union delegate Warren Whitney was retrenched by St Hillier’s, the CFMEU was quick to stand by its man.

The West Gosford worker has not only got his job back, the union won him back pay for the time he was off work.

NSW State Secretary Mal Tulloch says the union was quick to stand beside Whitney because it was concerned he was targeted because he was an effective delegate.

“Delegates are the union’s key strength on construction job sites as they alert the union to problems with issues such as payments and safety.

“This sometimes puts them at odds with their employer and they can risk retaliation from the employer.  There should be no place in the industry for employers who have no respect for the role unions and their delegates play in this industry,” he says.

Whitney, who was chairman of St Hillier’s safety committee, was retrenched along with three colleagues recently despite being one of the company’s longest-serving employees.

However Whitney was the only worker determined to fight and with the union’s support launched a picket outside St Hillier’s sites to highlight his case.

He also travelled to Newcastle and across Sydney speaking to mass meetings about his case.

“Warren put up a great fight,” says Tulloch, who added his campaign received great moral support from St Hillier’s workers in Victoria and the ACT.

Tulloch says St Hilliers has a collective agreement with the union that says before redundancies are announced the company will consider length of service; advise criteria used to determine redundancies; seek voluntary redundancies and talk with the union if a redundancy is disputed.