LABOR UNIONS – AUSTRALIA

Five legal battles to watch in 2016

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Original article by Nick Lenaghan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 30 : 13-Jan-16

Some high-profile legal disputes in the Australian property sector will be contested in court during 2016. A tenancy dispute between Roy Morgan Research and Impact Investment Group will return to court in February. The Gary Morgan-led market research firm was briefly locked out of its offices in Melbourne’s Collins Street in late December 2015, before a court ordered Impact to grant access to the building. Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union officials John Setka and Shaun Reardon will defend blackmail charges arising from an industrial dispute with Grocon that subsequently embroiled Boral. Sunland Group faces a damages claim by former employee Marcus Lee, while litigation is continuing between Grocon and APN Property Group.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, IMPACT INVESTMENT GROUP PTY LTD, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, GROCON PTY LTD, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, SUNLAND GROUP LIMITED – ASX SDG, APN PROPERTY GROUP LIMITED – ASX APD, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, LEND LEASE GROUP LIMITED – ASX LLC, PRIME RETIREMENT AND AGED CARE PROPERTY TRUST, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION

Coalition starts IR charm offensive

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Original article by Primrose Riordan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 2 : 12-Jan-16

The Australian Government will need the support of six crossbench senators to get the Australian Building and Construction Commission Bill through the upper house. The Senate has already rejected the legislation twice, but the Government is committed to introducing it again when Parliament resumes in early February 2016. The proposed industrial relations reforms are aimed at cracking down on unions in the wake of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption and Governance.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF HEALTH

Show of force as CFMEU fights back against blackmail charges

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Original article by Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 9-Dec-15

Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union officials John Setka and Shaun Reardon will return to court on 15 March 2016, after being granted bail on blackmail charges. Several thousand CFMEU members convened in the Melbourne CBD to express their support for Setka and Reardon, who are accused of attempting to blackmail building materials group Boral. They have pleaded not guilty.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, MELBOURNE MAGISTRATES’ COURT, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, GROCON PTY LTD, ACTU, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

CFMEU officials charged with blackmail against Boral

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 7-Dec-15

Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union officials John Setka and Shaun Reardon will appear in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on 8 December 2015. They face potential jail sentences of up to 15 years after Victorian police charged them with blackmail. The charges relate to an industrial dispute with Grocon, which resulted in building materials group Boral being subject to black bans. It will be alleged that Setka threatened to escalate the bans on Boral unless it ceased supplying cement to Grocon.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, GROCON PTY LTD, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND, NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS, MELBOURNE MAGISTRATES’ COURT

Cbus workers charged over CFMEU leak

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 1-Dec-15

Former Cbus employees Maria Butera and Lisa Zanatta have been charged with giving misleading evidence to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. They allegedly leaked details of the superannuation fund’s members to Brian Parker, the New South Wales secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union. Parker may also be charged.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING UNIONS’ SUPERANNUATION FUND, LIS-CON HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MELBOURNE MAGISTRATES’ COURT, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION

Unions launch onslaught on super changes

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 19-Nov-15

The ACTU has appealed to the public to oppose the Australian Government’s plans to make changes to the superannuation system. ACTU president Ged Kearney said people will be alerted to the alleged threat to their super savings via automated telephone calls and radio advertisements. She claims that the changes would give the big banks more control over super.

CORPORATES
ACTU, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY

Deal sought for NUW ‘disaster’

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 16-Nov-15

Tim Kennedy, the national secretary of the National Union of Workers, has indicated that the union’s national body favours joint control of its troubled New South Wales branch rather than a full takeover. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption has heard allegations of widespread fraud at the state branch of the union, including misuse of union credit cards. Former state secretary Derrick Belan, his brother and his niece have been implicated in the scandal.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, ACTU

Thousands ‘opting out’ of AWU

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Original article by Anthony Klan
The Australian – Page: 2 : 12-Nov-15

The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption has identified some disturbing practices at labour unions. Jeremy Stoljar, counsel assisting the commission, states in a submission released on 6 November 2015 that some employers paid membership fees to the Australian Workers’ Union in Victoria on behalf of "phantom members" who did not exist or were automatically signed up to the union without their knowledge.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION-FEDERATION OF INDUSTRIAL, MANUFACTURING AND ENGINEERING EMPLOYEES, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, CLEANEVENT PTY LTD, CHIQUITA MUSHROOMS PTY LTD, THIESS JOHN HOLLAND, WINSLOW CONSTRUCTORS PTY LTD, UNIBUILT PTY LTD

Employers face criminal action over AWU

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 9-Nov-15

Jeremy Stoljar has concluded that federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was not involved in criminal or unlawful conduct when he was head of the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU). However, the counsel assisting the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption has recommended that commissioner Dyson Heydon should conclude in his findings that former AWU boss Cesar Melhem and several companies may have contravened the Crimes Act regarding payments to the union.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN WORKERS’ UNION – WORKPLACE REFORM ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, THIESS JOHN HOLLAND, WINSLOW CONSTRUCTORS PTY LTD, ACI PACKAGING SERVICES PTY LTD, CHIQUITA MUSHROOMS PTY LTD

Union shopped at Tiffany’s

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Original article by Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 8 : 5-Nov-15

The funds of yet another union have been misused by corrupt officials. Danielle O’Brien, former account manager at the National Union of Workers, admitted that she used union funds for personal purposes. The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption has been told that $A68,395 in total was transferred from the union’s accounts to personal accounts controlled by O’Brien between July 2011 and June 2015.

CORPORATES
NATIONAL UNION OF WORKERS, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, STOREMEN AND PACKERS UNION, HEALTH SERVICES UNION OF AUSTRALIA, TIFFANY AND COMPANY, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY