The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has slammed a union official for “appalling” abuse and intimidation of workers. 

The FWC has suspended Queensland CFMEU official Luke Gibson’s permit to enter work sites for five months after finding he had sworn at workers, asked them to fight him and engaged in “blatant flouting” of safety rules on a $6 million Gold Coast apartment project.

Mr Gibson was found to have entered builder RawCorp’s excluded zone without authorisation and blocked concrete pours by standing in the way of trucks.

When workers asked him to move away, he called then “weak c***s” and called on them to “hit me. F***ing hit me. Come on, f***ing hit me”.

Mr Gibson argued that his actions were in response to safety issues, but Judge Salvatore Vasta said he could not see “in any way” how the actions were the result of safety concerns.

The judge said there was nothing to justify Mr Gibson’s “appalling” behaviour, who acted as if “those rules don’t apply to us and we can do whatever we want”.

Mr Gibson was also accused of improper conduct on a state infrastructure project in 2018.

The ruling comes in the saem week that the federal government has pledged to gut another workplace regulator, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

The ABCC made a bid to suspend Mr Gibson’s entry permit, but Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke says it is still more concerned with punishing workers and regulating union stickers than tackling wage theft and compromised safety standards.