Vic union bosses fight blackmail charges

Senior Victorian CFMEU bosses are trying to have blackmail charges against them dropped in the state's highest court.

The union's state secretary John Setka and assistant secretary Shaun Reardon are alleged to have blackmailed Boral executives Paul Dalton and Peter Head in April 2013.

Mr Reardon's barrister told the Supreme Court on Tuesday the conduct alleged was not a criminal act and had occurred in the context of an industrial dispute.