“Militant unionist Dean Mighell has been caught on video bragging to former ACTU president Greg Combet about his $1 million war chest to defeat the Howard Government.”
(The Australian, Mighell boasts of $1m fighting fund, 29 / 09 / 2007)
“Union solidarity in WA was in turmoil yesterday after the State’s top union leaders rejected a push to centralise power in the Eastern States, putting them at loggerheads with Unions WA and the Australian Council of Trade Unions.”
(The West Australian, WA unions split over move to concentrate power in Eastern States, 25 / 09 / 2007)
“A single mother is claiming she was unfairly dismissed from a Tasmanian union after making allegations of mistreatment.”
(Hobart Mercury, Union worker in sack battle, 19 / 09 / 2007)
“The Electrical Trades Union has forced a member to quit after he refused to pay the ACTU’s campaign levy because it was being used to support the ALP and not workers.”
(The Australian, Unionist who refused to pay levy forced out, 25 / 07 / 2007)
"30 of Labor’s current 88 federal politicians worked as union or party officials immediately before they were elected. That represents 34 per cent of the federal caucus at a time when the proportion of the workforce that is unionised has fallen to 20 per cent."
"By comparison, back in 1974, when 55 per cent of employees were union members, just 24 per cent of the Whitlam Government's MPs were ex-union and party officials."
(Sydney Morning Herald, Unions are Labor’s top finishing school, 15 / 06 / 2007)
"But the unions knew Rudd could turn out to be their perfect Trojan horse; similar enough to Howard to elicit a sense of familiarity and safety while enabling them to place their debtor in the pole position to enact their plan. That plan was undoubtedly to regain the power and money they once had. If Rudd could get in, he could deliver what they needed to survive. And the only thing unions needed to recover their fortune and status was for collective bargaining to be reinstated."
(Grace Collier – Former Union Official, The Australian – Secret union accord may lead ALP to grief, 05 / 06 / 2007)
"The CFMEU consists of four divisions, with each division having at least one branch in each state and territory. If just one branch of only one division can give its local football team $1 million a year, what do you think the whole union nationally feeds each year to the ALP?"
(Grace Collier – Former Union Official, The Australian – Rudd has fatally underestimated the union movement, 25 / 06 / 2007)
"Industrial Relations Minister Michael Wright awarded $3 million of taxpayer funds to trade unions under a move which did not follow usual departmental processes, State Parliament has been told."
"The State Government gave $3 million to 12 unions, nine of which are donors to the Australian Labor Party, under a workplace safety grants program."
(Adelaide Advertiser, Questions over $3m union grants, 27 / 07 / 2007)
"The State Opposition is claiming more evidence of Western Australia's public service being used to spread Government propaganda."
"The opposition has pointed to a Department for Community Development website, which contains a link to the country's peak union body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions."
(ABC Online, Opposition wants union link removed from govt website, 07 / 06 / 2007)
There was no "ulterior, secret or political motive" in the inclusion of union material in a Youth Week showbag, acting ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said yesterday.
"High profile unionist Helen Creed will be paid $200,000 a year to run a State Government propaganda unit created to attack the Federal Government’s WorkChoices laws."
(West Australian, ALP anoints mate as $200,000 AWA tsar, 13 / 04 / 2007)
