Inquiry told contractor faced losing work if it failed to resolve union dispute

A royal commission investigating public infrastructure projects in Victoria was told that a contractor working on a rail project was pressured to resolve a dispute with the CFMEU. According to testimony from a former Victorian Infrastructure Delivery Authority official, a manager stated that the minister's office warned that contractors who could not handle the industrial relations in the state would not receive any more work. The inquiry focuses on a 2022 level crossing removal project in Sunbury where union officials had shut down the site. The site later resumed operations after changes were made, including the appointment of union-aligned health and safety representatives and adjustments to traffic and labour hire companies.