![Outspoken militant Christy Cain told Fair Work he is now an active and senior advocate for compliance within the MUA.](/content/dam/images/1/m/b/t/l/k/image.related.afrArticleLead.620x350.gtq0g0.png/1484216098392.jpg)
One of the country's most militant unionists, Christy Cain, has claimed he has turned his back on the Maritime Union of Australia's historic militancy by warning officials they can no longer take unlawful strike action as unions risk being sued for millions of dollars.
The Fair Work Commission this week issued the MUA WA branch secretary with a right-of-entry permit after it was satisfied he had changed his ways and would actively discourage unlawful strike action, abandon closed shops and not press retribution against workers who chose to work during industrial action.
Senior deputy president Matthew O'Callaghan said Mr Cain advised he "has been an active and senior advocate for compliance with industrial legislation, within the MUA" and this was a significant consideration in granting him a permit.
The MUA submitted minutes of WA branch meetings from 2016 that record Mr Cain telling officials "things have changed".
"We can no longer just take strike action as we don't always get to where you want to be with the laws of this land," Mr Cain reportedly said.
"We can't walk off the job or have a picket any more as the unions are being sued millions and officials and organisers can be individually sued. If there [are] more than three people in the street, we can be charged with disruption."
Mr Cain also claimed to Fair Work that he told the MUA's national council and a 2016 national conference that "we have to change our ways and we can't keep taking unlawful industrial action". However, no minutes recorded the statements.
'Laws need to be broken'
Fair Work had initially refused Mr Cain a right-of-entry permit in an interim decision in November 2016 after noting his behaviour had led to multiple court decisions involving breaches of workplace law.
The judgments included that Mr Cain operated a "closed shop" at Offshore Marine Services until at least 2009, and in 2011 sought to "exact vengeance" on workers who did not take part in a strike at Fremantle Port by distributing posters vilifying them as "scabs".
Chevron is also suing the MUA for at least $10 million over a 2012 strike that affected its Gorgon LNG project and which was co-directed by Mr Cain as part of a strategy to use safety as a pretext for unlawful industrial action.
At a 2013 MUA conference attended by opposition leader Bill Shorten, Mr Cain told members that "laws need to be broken" and members must be prepared get "locked up" for their union's cause. He has refused to apologise for his statements or show remorse for his actions.
However, Mr O'Callaghan found that, based on additional evidence about his commitment to compliance and in the absence of any matters since 2012, Mr Cain was a "fit and proper" person for a permit.
But he warned of significant consequences if there were any future breaches.
"Simply put, a breach of the undertakings he has provided to me would go directly to his credibility and would make it extraordinarily difficult for him to be regarded as a fit and proper person to hold an entry permit in the future."
Asked whether the MUA was still a militant union, a MUA spokesman told The Australian Financial Review "the MUA will continue to fight for the jobs, rights and conditions of its members".