Extract from The Guardian
Why aren’t new laws that stop the banks ripping off working people the government’s first priority?
There must be serious concerns about the polls because the Murdoch
papers are talking about the evils of workers organising in their
unions, as is the new prime minister – again.
Nothing unites the Liberal party like some old-fashioned union bashing. Tony Abbott really set the bar with the trade union royal commission (TURC). Malcolm Turnbull called an election on it and followed up with a bill designed to strip workers of training, insurance, income protection and other services they gain through their union membership.
He also tried to give government and big business the power to move to sack union leaders, shutting down unions and stopping them from merging with the Orwellian named “ensuring integrity bill”
Of course, one of the conservative’s grievances against Turnbull was that his heart was never quite in the anti-union stuff.
Both of Turnbull’s bills languished at the backend of the Senate schedule as first Michaelia Cash and then Craig Laundy struggled to convince the cross bench that, as the minister, they should be given the power to act to remove democratically elected office bearers from unions if they, or a business leader, found them objectionable.
People would be right to ask why isn’t the government cracking down on the banks? Why aren’t they holding press conferences denouncing their behaviours? Why is Scott Morrison having his photo taken with the CEO of a major bank instead of calling for the resignation of the big four banks’ CEOs? Why aren’t new laws that stop the banks ripping off working people Morrison’s first priority?
"Members control unions. And they control where the money is spent"
At a time when banks and corporate financial institutions are admitting to tens of thousands of breaches, the banking royal commission (which Morrison voted against 26 times and called “a populist whinge”) is uncovering crimes, unethical conduct and not enough integrity left in the banks to hide their own shame, Morrison’s priority is to give his former merchant banking industrial relations minister the power to knock off member elected union leaders and shut down their unions.
No such rules are proposed to be established for the banks or corporations.
All the union movement is guilty of is standing up for safe workplaces, more secure jobs and fair pay under a regime of oppressive laws that are out of step with the rest of the developed world. The banks have been forcing farmers off their land, laundering money for drug dealers, charging fees to dead people and forging signatures that have resulted in Australian’s losing their life savings and even their homes.
Despite this week’s efforts by Liberal party thinktank, the Menzies Centre, and the Australian, with research that follow on from similar attempts by the Gina Reinhart supported IPA last year to paint a corporatised picture of unions, the Menzies Centre must know that not to be true.
After all, the Menzies Centre and the Australian support the “ensuring integrity bill” while both rejected the need for a banking royal commission. And they also want to back in Morrison as he pushes for the “proper use of members benefits” bill.
Though the bill is ostensibly designed to ensure transparency in negotiations, the Menzies Centre paper and the Australian article make clear that some unions have, over many decades, accumulated funds that they use to derive income which they spend on servicing members. According to these conservative sources unions have been so successful they need to be punished.
But the Menzies Centre, the IPA and the Australian get a D minus for basic research.
They’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to conflate unions with corporations, suggesting I am head of a vast corporate empire and that the CFMEU’s turnover would make it one of the largest corporations in the country. But all of these hyperbolic claims ignore the reality, which the ensuring integrity bill demonstrates they are actually keenly aware of – unions aren’t corporations.
Members control unions. And they control where the money is spent. There are over 280 reporting units registered with the Fair Work Commission in the union movement. This means decisions are made at 280 volunteer member-run committees of workers.
The ability for a state secretary to spend money held within a state branch is usually predicated on multiple layers of democratic processes. Let alone a national secretary. Let alone the ACTU secretary.
The corporate-style command and control, profit to shareholders, bonuses to executives’ model is from a different world. Our model also serves as a form of natural fire-break against corruption and theft. Remember Abbott’s TURC? It resulted in one criminal conviction for one state branch secretary and one conviction for a low level official.
The banking royal commission has found hundreds of thousands of instances of potentially criminal conduct (so far), hundreds of millions of dollars worth of unlawful fees, misappropriations and possible thefts as well as overseeing millions upon millions of dollars in fines for the big banks.
Still that hasn’t stopped the Morrison-led Liberal party, its storefront thinktank and its various conservative media allies from playing the usual anti-union cards.
It’s just that this time their hand is weaker than it’s ever been.
• Sally McManus is secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions
Nothing unites the Liberal party like some old-fashioned union bashing. Tony Abbott really set the bar with the trade union royal commission (TURC). Malcolm Turnbull called an election on it and followed up with a bill designed to strip workers of training, insurance, income protection and other services they gain through their union membership.
He also tried to give government and big business the power to move to sack union leaders, shutting down unions and stopping them from merging with the Orwellian named “ensuring integrity bill”
Of course, one of the conservative’s grievances against Turnbull was that his heart was never quite in the anti-union stuff.
Both of Turnbull’s bills languished at the backend of the Senate schedule as first Michaelia Cash and then Craig Laundy struggled to convince the cross bench that, as the minister, they should be given the power to act to remove democratically elected office bearers from unions if they, or a business leader, found them objectionable.
People would be right to ask why isn’t the government cracking down on the banks? Why aren’t they holding press conferences denouncing their behaviours? Why is Scott Morrison having his photo taken with the CEO of a major bank instead of calling for the resignation of the big four banks’ CEOs? Why aren’t new laws that stop the banks ripping off working people Morrison’s first priority?
"Members control unions. And they control where the money is spent"
At a time when banks and corporate financial institutions are admitting to tens of thousands of breaches, the banking royal commission (which Morrison voted against 26 times and called “a populist whinge”) is uncovering crimes, unethical conduct and not enough integrity left in the banks to hide their own shame, Morrison’s priority is to give his former merchant banking industrial relations minister the power to knock off member elected union leaders and shut down their unions.
No such rules are proposed to be established for the banks or corporations.
All the union movement is guilty of is standing up for safe workplaces, more secure jobs and fair pay under a regime of oppressive laws that are out of step with the rest of the developed world. The banks have been forcing farmers off their land, laundering money for drug dealers, charging fees to dead people and forging signatures that have resulted in Australian’s losing their life savings and even their homes.
Despite this week’s efforts by Liberal party thinktank, the Menzies Centre, and the Australian, with research that follow on from similar attempts by the Gina Reinhart supported IPA last year to paint a corporatised picture of unions, the Menzies Centre must know that not to be true.
After all, the Menzies Centre and the Australian support the “ensuring integrity bill” while both rejected the need for a banking royal commission. And they also want to back in Morrison as he pushes for the “proper use of members benefits” bill.
Though the bill is ostensibly designed to ensure transparency in negotiations, the Menzies Centre paper and the Australian article make clear that some unions have, over many decades, accumulated funds that they use to derive income which they spend on servicing members. According to these conservative sources unions have been so successful they need to be punished.
But the Menzies Centre, the IPA and the Australian get a D minus for basic research.
They’ve gone to extraordinary lengths to conflate unions with corporations, suggesting I am head of a vast corporate empire and that the CFMEU’s turnover would make it one of the largest corporations in the country. But all of these hyperbolic claims ignore the reality, which the ensuring integrity bill demonstrates they are actually keenly aware of – unions aren’t corporations.
Members control unions. And they control where the money is spent. There are over 280 reporting units registered with the Fair Work Commission in the union movement. This means decisions are made at 280 volunteer member-run committees of workers.
The ability for a state secretary to spend money held within a state branch is usually predicated on multiple layers of democratic processes. Let alone a national secretary. Let alone the ACTU secretary.
The corporate-style command and control, profit to shareholders, bonuses to executives’ model is from a different world. Our model also serves as a form of natural fire-break against corruption and theft. Remember Abbott’s TURC? It resulted in one criminal conviction for one state branch secretary and one conviction for a low level official.
The banking royal commission has found hundreds of thousands of instances of potentially criminal conduct (so far), hundreds of millions of dollars worth of unlawful fees, misappropriations and possible thefts as well as overseeing millions upon millions of dollars in fines for the big banks.
Still that hasn’t stopped the Morrison-led Liberal party, its storefront thinktank and its various conservative media allies from playing the usual anti-union cards.
It’s just that this time their hand is weaker than it’s ever been.
• Sally McManus is secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions
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