Grace Collier describes the kind of scandals the ABC can’t see:
In Queensland, Justin Steele, a construction union member, appeared in court accused of assaulting a woman, a construction employer. Steele is the first to be arrested by the special police unit associated with the Heydon royal commission into trade union corruption.
In NSW, Brian Parker, a construction union boss, stood aside after allegations were made against him at the royal commission, while in Victoria, Cesar Melhem, a state Labor politician, stepped down from his position as party whip after the royal commission criticised a workplace deal he and Paul Howes extended in 2010.
A memorandum of understanding, signed by Howes when he was AWU national secretary, continued a 2006 Work Choices enterprise agreement. Under this EBA, with Cleanevent Australia, workers are said to have collectively lost about $2 million a year in wages. The deal forfeits the right of employees to bargain for better wages or take industrial action. At the same time, the AWU received cash payments from the company…
The AWU rules say that only the boss of the union is allowed to authorise collective agreements, and Shorten will have signed oodles of them in his time…
It is not illegal for employers to just give money to unions, or even to pay the dues of union members, but it is reasonable to ask why this would happen. Already some employees have said to the royal commission they were joined up to the AWU without their agreement or knowledge. An employer has also confessed he put all his workers into the AWU because it was the best way of keeping other unions out of his workplace…
Businesses don’t sign their employees into unions, give unions lists of their workers’ names or give unions money without good commercial reasons, and the workers, as well as the wider public, deserve to know what those reasons are. ..
This week, Shorten dumped Melhem like a hot potato. He denied doing deals that leave workers worse off.
The ABC, holding up the crooks and shysters until the blood runs.
Incredible. The ABC has run dead on the allegations that Labor leader Bill Shorten sold out workers as a union leader by making sweet-heart deals with union bosses in exchange for payments for union membership.
But the clearest example of the ABC running away from this story is this morning’s AM program, which failed to mention yesterday afternoon’s big story: that the royal commission had asked Shorten to give evidence about these matters.
This is getting worse than the Gillard non-reporting by ABC.
What are they afraid of, Union blackmail?:
The Australian lists the questions for Shorten (that the ABC won’t ask):
(Andrew Bolt)
Never fear, Jonathon is here: MORE OF YOUR TAXES FOR JONATHAN
Tim Blair
Wealthy leftist Jonathan Green, who enjoys tormenting animals until they are killed, is the new editor of tax-supported leftist Meanjin magazine. He will remain as a tax-funded presenter on the ABC.
UPDATE. Green’s wife, Sally Heath, is Meanjin‘s executive publisher.
UPDATE II. “Get a good job?” asks Jonathan. “No, marry well.”
Go to his home page to see all of them.
