The AWU's Victorian branch received up to $25,000 a year from a Spotless Group subsidiary under a memorandum of understanding that meant cleaners were not paid penalty rates, the Heydon Royal Commission heard today.
The Heydon Royal Commission has today asked for further submissions on the introduction of US-style anti-racketeering laws "to combat unlawful activities" in the construction industry, while noting it would constitute "a significant step requiring detailed and careful consideration".
The Heydon Royal Commission will next week issue a discussion paper that will canvass whether penalties for union officials who breach their duties should be brought into line with those for company directors under the Corporations Act.
The Heydon Royal Commission will consider the allegations made against former HSU leader Kathy Jackson later this year, once the Federal Court rules in civil proceedings brought by her former union.
The Heydon Royal Commission has begun referring its interim findings against unions and individuals to police and other investigatory authorities, including ASIC and the ACCC.
Fair Work Commission general manager Bernadette O'Neill has today asked the Federal Court to "re-enliven" parts of her civil proceedings against former HSU national secretary, Craig Thomson.
Former HSU leader Craig Thomson has been warned that his three-month jail sentence could be extended if he fails in his appeal against convictions for 65 counts of theft and obtaining a financial advantage by deception.
The HSU has today resolved to provide Victoria Police with evidence that national secretary Kathy Jackson has wrongly spent more than $900,000 of the union's funds on non-union business, while TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon has referred allegations that former WA officials misappropriated $300,000, to both the FWC and the Heydon Royal Commission.
In a wide-ranging attack on the Heydon Royal Commission, ACTU assistant secretary Tim Lyons has dubbed it as part of a conservative agenda to restrict "organising, industrial action, right of entry, public campaigning, political action and expenditure, litigation, access to arbitration and the right to be self-governing".
