The court action was taken early this week by The Fair Work Building and Construction Inspectorate, to try to stop the protest that it said was coordinated by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and union organiser Tony Mavromatis.

After ten day of protest, The Federal Court has ordered the AMWU to end any alleged involvement in a blockade at a Melbourne Water treatment plant at Werribee, in Melbourne’s outer-west.

Dozens of unemployed local tradesmen have been protesting over the hiring of four Filipino workers on 457 visas, thus preventing 50 workers from accessing the site.

The court also heard an industrial relations consultant Grace Collier hid a recording device in her bra, trying to link the Union and their organiser Tony Mavromatis to the blockade.

The Union has denied any direct involvement in the ten-day blockade of the $40 million water treatment plant.

A lawyer for the Inspectorate told the court the AMWU and Mr Mavromatis were trying to force a labour hire company to sack the Filipinos and hire the unemployed men in breach of the law.

But the union’s lawyer said Mr Mavromatis was only acting as a conduit for negotiations between the protesters and industrial relations consultant Ms Collier, at her request.

Ms Collier is a consultant for Tedra Australia, that, as estimated, has suffered $1.5 million in losses because of construction delays.

In court, the judge questioned the behaviour of Ms Collier, comparing her to a star of a James Bond movie.

While trying to entrap the union organiser and share information about the Werribee water treatment plant blockade, Ms Collier had spotted union organiser Tony Mavromatis at a service station near the plant and attached a colleague’s recording device to her bra.

Ms Collier, who has been engaged by one of the plant’s contractors, Tedra Australia, said she asked Mr Mavromatis what it would take to end the protest against the hiring of four Filipinos on 457 visas. He told her “give these (local) blokes a job and the picket will end”.

Federal Court judge Shane Marshall, who heard argument for penalties against the Union and Mr Mavromatis over the blockade, said he had concerns about Ms Collier’s evidence and how she obtained it.

“Did she think she was in a James Bond movie?”, he said.

Ms Collier’s affidavits also reveal she secretly taped Mr Mavromatis four times.

First she placed the recorder behind her handbag in a lunchroom meeting.

A few hours later she put the recorder in her fluoro jacket before going outside to speak to Mr Mavromatis again.

The next morning she recorded him at the service station, concealing the device in her bra, and later that day rang him and recorded the conversation.

Lawyers for the Inspectorate said that, while a recording of a telephone conversation Ms Collier had with Mr Mavromatis may have breached federal laws, the bra taping was not illegal.

The Inspectorate has sought financial penalties against the AMWU and Mr Mavromatis, as well as orders stopping them from any involvement with the blockade or any abuse or threats against people accessing the site.

Justice Marshall ruled a trial over the part played by the Union will be held next month.

Source: ABC News, The Australian