Former NUW NSW branch secretary Derrick Belan has been sentenced to four years' jail on 60 charges that involved more than $650,000 of union funds, including personal spending on a tattoo, Botox treatments, holidays and a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
The Registered Organisations Commission has launched a formal investigation into credit card use and loans possibly paid by the CFMEU mining and energy division's Queensland district to its officials.
The Flight Attendants Association national divisional council has appointed Shane Scanlon as secretary, while the union presses jurisdictional objections against unfair dismissal claims brought by its former leader Andrew Staniforth and member support manager Carolyn Summers.
The Flight Attendants Association national divisional council has dismissed secretary Andrew Staniforth for gross misbehaviour and neglect of duty, amid a bruising dispute which has taken its toll on all parties.
The FAAA says it is delighted with a new deal endorsed by more than 90% of voting Qantas international flight attendants, but the TWU has slammed it for perpetuating a two-tiered system that pays some cabin crew less than half the money for performing the same work.
The ACTU is preparing to train affiliates to comply with the more stringent governance requirements under the Turnbull Government's rules for registered organisations, as the new regulator develops plans to increase awareness of protections for reprisals against whistleblowers - which extend to imprisonment.
The HSU says it is unlikely to pursue former national secretary and ex-Labor MP Craig Thomson for the repayment of about $378,000 because it would incur further legal costs with little chance of recovering the money.
The prosecution has reworked its case against former HSU leader Kathy Jackson, who now faces 164 charges that mostly relate to alleged theft and fraud from her time as a union official.
A Senate inquiry has recommended an employer who gives a union official a $20 bottle of wine for speaking at a conference be exempted from sanctions in the corrupting benefits legislation that is before the House of Representatives today.
