Former TWU national president and WA branch secretary Jim McGiveron has dismissed as "a complete fantasy" a claim by former AWU WA branch leader Ralph Blewitt that he was given $5000 cash in a brown paper bag to help win control of the transport union's state branch two decades ago.
The Heydon Royal Commission into trade unions will begin its public hearings with the former AWU official Ralph Blewitt, in evidence that is expected to touch on the role of former Prime Minister Julia Gillard as a young lawyer.
NUW Victorian branch secretary Tim Kennedy is poised to succeed Charlie Donnelly as the union's national secretary, in the latest leadership changes at the top of the Australian labour movement.
The ACTU has fired the first shot in the royal commission into union corruption, finance and governance by telling the inquiry chief Dyson Heydon that it wants a ban on selective leaking of evidence to the media before hearings.
One of the largest left-wing unions, United Voice, faces a major shake-up after national secretary Louise Tarrant and national president Michael Crosby flagged they won't stand for re-election later this year.
Former HSU national secretary Craig Thomson will be sentenced next Tuesday, after Lesley Taylor SC, for the prosecution, today told Magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg that anything less than an immediate custodial sentence would be "manifestly inadequate".
Stoljar, Elliott, Roughley the Royal Commission legal team; Senate committee to report on Fair Work Amendment Bill by early June; FWC president appoints Harcourt to super expert panel; and IR ministers unchanged after WA and Victorian reshuffles.
The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption will hold its first hearing next month and Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon will hand his final report to the federal government at the end of the year.
