A Canberra plumber who wrote a union resignation letter for his employees to sign was a "particularly hostile and aggressive person to deal with", the royal commission into unions was told on Thursday.
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Matthew McCann, an organiser with the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union and a recruitment officer with the ETU, said Advanced Plumbing boss Jason Hooper's "vitriol towards the CEPU was often irrational and perplexing".
He said: "My dealings with Mr Hooper were difficult and never seemed to end well. I found him to genuinely resent the union's right to represent its members and Advanced Plumbing's employees."
Mr Hooper told the commission on Tuesday CEPU NSW state secretary Dave Broadley, had told him words to the effect "we find safety issues with plumbers that don't have an EBA, go on site and cause problems for the builder. We give builders a list of people they can use".
Mr Hooper had also said the union was targeting sites on which Mr Hooper's company was employed in order to pressure him into signing a CEPU EBA.
Counsel assisting the royal commission, Jeremy Stoljar, put it to Mr McCann he was being as offensive as possible about Mr Hooper in his statement in order to diminish his credibility as a witness.
Mr McCann rejected this, saying: "No, not at all; just the facts."
Mr Broadley, who also testified on Thursday, denied telling Mr Hooper the CEPU made trouble for contractors who did not sign union EBAs.
Mr Stoljar put it to Mr Broadley that: "Your officers were using any means they could to access sites to put pressure on Advanced Plumbing to sign an EBA."
Mr Broadley replied: "No."
He said: "The guy [Mr Hooper] is very short witted and a lot of the things that ever come through my office I didn't read them in regards to Mr Hooper."
Mr Broadley agreed he and Damian Kirkwood had met Mr Hooper in April 2013 but disputed what had allegedly been said.
He said: "This was the first time I had ever met him [Mr Hooper]. I explained we had taken over as a sub-branch and would be investing a lot more time in Canberra for the betterment of the industry.
"I gave him a copy of the draft [CEPU] enterprise agreement that was under negotiation and invited him to attend the next MBA meeting.'
Mr Broadley denied an allegation the CEPU had been "beating the sites", a phrase the hearing was told meant going on to work sites to investigate spurious safety complaints to cause trouble and disrupt work.
Adam Morrison, representing building contractor Sam Delerenzo, put it to Mr Broadley that: "Making up safety reasons to go on site allows you to go on site without having to give any notice. That's what you do in order to get on site without giving [24 hours] notice isn't it?"
Mr Broadley said: "No, it's not."
Under cross-examination Mr Broadley said his union did not have a code or conduct or conduct annual performance reviews of its staff.
