LABOR UNIONS – AUSTRALIA

Aurizon wins fight over legacy perks

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 4-Sep-15

The Federal Court has upheld a Fair Work Commission ruling terminating perks and job protection clauses in a union agreement with Aurizon, Australia’s biggest rail freight operator. The agreement had been imposed on Aurizon in 2010 when the Bligh Government privatised Queensland Rail. The so-called legacy provisions banned forced redundancies, placed restrictions on hiring and rostering and allowed for free travel for 6,000 employees and their families.

CORPORATES
AURIZON HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX AZJ, AUSTRALIAN RAIL, TRAM AND BUS INDUSTRY UNION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE

Labor rallies as Heydon decides to stay

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 1-Sep-15

Union leaders fighting the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption have been likened to corrupt police who tried to shut down the Fitzgerald Royal Commission in Queensland in the 1980s. Attorney-General George Brandis said the Australian Labor Party and the unions were throwing mud at the royal commission because they had much to fear. The head of the royal commission, Justice Dyson Heydon, has refused to recuse himself.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL, ACTU, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA

Kane rages at sideshow to ban

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The Australian Financial Review – Page: 28 : 28-Aug-15

Boral CEO Mike Kane says the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption is "absolutely necessary" for the recovery of an efficient construction market in Australia. Claiming the campaign against the royal commission’s head, Justice Dyson Heydon, was an unneccessary distraction, Kane say union officials operate outside the law. Boral has not delivered concrete in the Melbourne CBD for more than two years because of bans imposed by the Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union, which Boral is suing in the Victorian Supreme Court.

CORPORATES
BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA, GROCON PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, ORICA LIMITED – ASX ORI, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP

Police raid CFMEU, Gatto role explored

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 27-Aug-15

The Canberra offices of the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) have been raided by Australian Federal Police, who seized computers as part of an extortion investigation. It follows evidence at the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption and the arrest of two CFMEU officials. Meanwhile, the Victorian Supreme Court heard claims that Boral was told it should pay Mick Gatto $A100,000 to mediate its dispute with the union.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, CANBERRA RAIDERS, SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA

Senior CFMEU bosses face criminal charges

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Original article by Nick McKenzie, Ewin Hannan, Richard Baker, Nick Toscano
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 6 : 25-Aug-15

Officials of the militant Construction, Forestry, Mining & Energy Union (CFMEU) are under police investigation in three states. National president Dave Hanna, who was also a vice-president of the Australian Labor Party in Queensland, has quit the union as police probe allegations that he received secret commissions. In Victoria, senior officials of the CFMEU’s construction division are facing allegations of blackmail, while in New South Wales Brian Parker, the state secretary, is being investigated after phone taps linked him to organised crime figure George Alex.

CORPORATES
CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, VICTORIA POLICE, NEW SOUTH WALES POLICE FORCE, QUEENSLAND POLICE SERVICE, AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, LIBERAL PARTY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, MIRVAC GROUP – ASX MGR, BUILDERS’ LABOURERS’ FEDERATION

Commission exposes deals unions and bosses want to hide

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Original article by Grace Collier
The Australian – Page: 20 : 22-Aug-15

The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption has revealed that unions and companies act in collusion to extract money from workers. The unions and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) are trying to shut down the commission because they want to protect their financial interests. The Coalition could use the findings of the commission to portray the ALP as the party whose interests are not necessarily aligned with those of workers. Voters would no doubt support a political platform of eradicating business-union deals.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Senate split on China trade deal

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Original article by Phillip Coorey
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 21-Aug-15

The Australian Greens and four crossbench senators voted for a motion demanding the government change or abandon the China Australia Free Trade Agreement. Their opposition to the landmark deal in its present form put it at the mercy of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), which helped defeat the motion. But the ALP, under pressure from the trade unions, is insisting the Federal Government deliver on its promise to put Australian jobs first.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN GREENS, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF IMMIGRATION AND BORDER PROTECTION

Jackson ordered to repay $1.4m to health union

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Original article by Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 20-Aug-15

The Federal Court has found the former head of the Health Services Union, Kathy Jackson, misused union funds. She has been ordered to repay $A1.4 million. Justice Richard Tracey said Jackson had improperly used her position to gain personal advantage, spending union funds on shopping trips, divorce payments and holidays overseas. Jackson declared bankruptcy on the first day of the court case.

CORPORATES
FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA, HEALTH SERVICES UNION OF AUSTRALIA, VICTORIA POLICE, AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION

Labor steps up push to oust Heydon

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Ewin Hannan
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 19-Aug-15

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) will petition Governor-General Peter Cosgrove to remove Dyson Heydon from the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption. A motion to that effect will be debated in the Senate as early as 19 August 2015. The ALP objects to Heydon’s role in the commission on the grounds of political bias and conflict of interests. Heydon is also under pressure from the labour movement to resign from the commission.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED)

Heydon gives unions four days

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Phillip Coorey, Lucille Keen
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 : 18-Aug-15

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has defended the integrity of Justice Dyson Heydon, head of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption, who is at the centre of a political brawl for agreeing to speak at a Liberal Party dinner. Abbott accused the Australian Labor Party and the trade unions of trying to smear the former High Court judge to distract attention from the findings of the royal commission. Justice Heydon has said he overlooked the Liberal Party link with the dinner when agreeing to be guest speaker.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ROYAL COMMISSION INTO TRADE UNION GOVERNANCE AND CORRUPTION, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, THE RHODES TRUST, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY