THE GREAT BIG BAD, BAD UNIONS REPORT-The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption releases its report

Eee oop, report comin' out-copyright Hipgnosis AHM

In the great big silence two days afore new year when politicians are snoozin' and folk have better things to do than digest a report the size of a small bus the right honourable John Dyson Heydon AC, QC has released his findings, sorry those of the grand (or should that be the fair dinkum great big) Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption. Like Christmas it was coming, filled with expectations and so what do we have for such a large digest?

The Sydney Herald used the heading "Findings small tip of an iceberg" to breathlessly tell us how bad it was going to be. You missed out "the small tip of an ENORMOUS iceberg" Tony! Then wrote a thundering editorial about the relationship between unions in Australia and the Labor party. Then Tony Turnbull said it was a watershed moment for the labour movement and certainly, in no uncertain terms, not just a case of a few rotten apples. It was evidence based in fact. Fact! Fact! Fact!

Well in my view I would add a rider: Stand back people there is not as much substance here as the headline or Mr Turnbull's response might cause you to think. The Commission ran for two years, held 189 days of hearings, involving 505 witnesses. Mr Heydon was paid an obscene amount of money (about approximately 1 million dollars per year), the unions said 18 million dollars was spent in keeping the Commission in gravy.  ABC radio reckons a cool 46 million plus! Enough money pissed down a legal drain to have funded a number of indigenous support services, or other worthy causes. But no, the Unions needed a jolly good investigation and shake up and the honourable J D was the bloke to do it. The brief reads as if lets shake the tree and see what falls out and interview as many malcontents as we can and see what we can make stick in doing so. Well my words, it were far more legal posh than that. So was it brass well spent? I will declare my bias. I am a member of a trade union, me dad was a communist and trade unionist and most of me ma's family were in the UK seamans union. So let's review...

MUA - Go Away! Says Heydon the just

The first part of this report sets the tone for the contents to follow. Loads of content. So if you cannot sleep with worrying about stuff, read this and sleep like a baby. The language alone will flatten you catatonic. So in brief I have put the man's (or his scriptors) wurds in bold and my jottings in italics; as it his report/my blog. Fair enough! I was chucken' me slipper at telly but that were no good...so sharpened pencil it is at five paces.

Now in the opening paragraph the man quotes Sir Harry Gibbs-(no not the father of the BeeGees as far as I am aware; though the report would have been a lot sexier with  a title like "Staying Alive"). However Lord Heydon wanted to test Sir Gibbs's maxim that "the inherent decency of the Australian people continue". By George! Where did I park my gun boat? Me top hat, fly swat and feathers Jeeves, please! And no he was not referring to the introduction of holiday pay, sick leave or any number of improved work conditions fought for and gained by unions over the years. I think he was referring to our ability to not blink at the expenditure of such a large wad of our tax take without blinking, thinking it well spent to state the obvious...in all walks of life, there are the corrupt, the greedy and the self-serving. The Unions are not exempt and have never claimed to be.

So on to the headline or the stuff up in big letters contained in the over long summary report:
Unions are riddled with "widespread" and "deep seated" misconduct. No carry on, enjoy the full breadth of the man's thinking "...probably (legal word meaning banged up to rights) only the most egregious (bollock scratching) examples of misconduct...These aberrations cannot be regarded as isolated (obviously plague like-unionists dripping pus littering the political landscape). They are not the work of a few rogue unions, or a few rogue officials (although this is the guts; the sins of the few-magnified lovingly in prose like a fleas balls in a gale, of what is recorded in the report. Boot a bit of tar and feathering is always good for the soul)...it is widespread (except the Northern Territories, yeah I know go figure!) It is deep seated...It would be utterly (isn't that subjective your honour?) naive to think what has been uncovered is anything other than a small tip of an enormous iceberg." (And the evidence to support this contention? A Tonyism-a small number of serving union officials are bent, crooked and should be hung out to be pelted with rotten cabbages-but this does not provide substance to this statement.)

"...But it is clear that in many parts of the world constituted by Australian trade union officials, there is room for louts, thugs, bullies, thieves, perjurers, those who threaten violence, errant fiduciaries (those who hold/oversee the money bags), and organisers of boycotts." (Did we go to Moscow for the Olympics one year?Louts, thugs, perjurers and bullies can describe a number of settings. And gosh, are their not times when this could describe Parliaments?Senate? Upper Houses. A lot of work places, professional bodies-throw in thieves-those caught rooking their clients, possibly even lawyers are not unknown to such descriptors, from time to time-but not judges except in Queensland...). Sorry, its an age thing, I tend to be easily distracted when reading legal telephone directories as summary. But Carry On Justice Heydon: the report goes on to state "A sinister picture appears to form. It is a picture the unions concerned not with its role as the instrument through which to protect the interests of its members but with self interest. Its primary interest is in the leading group of its officials as a self perpetuating institution. The institution comes to operate like a Venetian oligarchy or a Whig Parliament with very few electoral contests. It is an institution more concerned with gathering members than servicing them." Breathtaking. Sounds like the average mens club in operation. Lets just reflect (pictures below) on some of the unions representing aspects of our work environment who have been condemned in this statement. Yes, all corrupt undoubtably self serving with nowt to offer the modern industrial/working world.

Supermarket workers

Nurses

Energy sector

Asian Women

Of course Governor Heydon was at great pains-in a few sentences in his report to at least put to bed the old chestnut that his Commission in any way, shape or form was out to get the Unions. Heavens! How could they they reach such a fanciful finding...not only that, his side were much fairer, courteous and calmer in their presentation of the facts, while the union rabble personalised, insulted, abused, probably wore their boots to court and behaved like riff-raff-he did state sniffly that standards had dropped since his day, when folded silk hankies on the head were de rigeur. Then some of the union witnesses were seen by his nibs as scornful and hostile, perjured and fudged with half truths etc. Err, his worshipful might like to watch Parliament live from time to time to improve his education on how pollies behave towards one another, or maybe have a heart to heart with one Julia Gillard, I am sure she can give him some insight into such matters.

But what is lost and damaged in this report is the good work done by unions. The fundamental decency of the majority of office holders who give of their time to improve workplace conditions and protect ongoing safety standards. And given the current attacks on our employment conditions this representation is necessary. This report does not address why at this time when we are reaching austerity by stealth conditions, this is a necessity. Or why for the health of our society we should support the work of unions to ensure employers do not turn back the clock to treat employees as commodities to suck dry and discard. For example the same Sydney Herald today had a piece about American businesses who do not give their workers sick leave and people out of economic necessity turning up at work sick, and when infectious infecting others. Read it at:

http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace-relations/is-going-to-work-sick-really-a-good-idea-20151229-glwkim.html

Do we want that kind of employment conditions to take root here in Australia? And isn't this, the threat of casualisation, taking away penalty rates and zero hour contracts good reasons to sustain and maintain a healthy union framework across our employment sector.

The report summary also does not address with any compassion (just mealy mouthed attacks on unions) the wreckage caused by deceit and fraud that is the case in for example the Health Services Union (HSU). Members of this union are some of the most disadvantaged in the workforce. I doubt nailing Ms Jackson's scrotum to the mast of the good ship Dyson has given them solace.  Using there trauma as a legal/political football shows a gross lack of fundamental decency and no doubt in the days to come they will be kicked equally as part of a union bashing exercise.

Already this morning (31 December 2015) Senator Cash (Employment and wizard at breezily dismissing the ginormous wads of dollars spent as top drawer bangs for bucks) and Malkie Turnbull are claiming the report supports evidence of systematic corruption. Cash careful to say in some unions but this needs a big hammer of reform to smash. Yes, there is evidence that in some unions there was systemic issues which allowed corruption to occur and these unions have already addressed this. Then there were the threats to take this to election and Cash asked everyone to read this report. Well we should, we payed mighty for it and as you read whisper forty million bucks to yourself. Good luck I say, it is not an accessible read, large wads of legalise, turgid and one sided and at the end of it, like reality TV, you may have indignation with what you read but may also be left with a sense of being manipulated to see things in a certain way. IT DOES NOT DEMONSTRATE SYSTEMIC ISSUES ACROSS THE WHOLE UNION MOVEMENT, but does position itself to suggest this is the case. A con. More smoke and mirrors to make something appear bigger and more of a current issue infecting all unions than it is.

Whether Mr Turnbull says it many Tony times as he likes, it is a case of a few rotten apples to the many decent, hard working, committed members and officials. This over expensive commission was set up by the Abbott government to reduce the influence of unions, take down a few politicians in the process but most importantly introduce work choices by stealth. As for the report writer, he didn't even have the decency to step down when it was shown he had a conflict of interest-of which is happy to cast aspersions on unions having re union superannuation funds etc. He did not treat people decently when it was evident findings were insufficient to hang them out to dry-but nonetheless, he left them to hang out to dry (Gillard and Shorten come to mind-releasing findings exonerating Shorten late on a Friday night but still hinting as an office holder Shorten was tainted by guilt). And that is the gist of this report all of us in unions are tainted by the guilt of the few. Gosh but Parliamentarians, political parties are not all tainted by Slipper, Bishop (the older) or the conveyor belt of NSW pollies who did not know the difference between conflict of interest, tainted cash and their political responsibilities to their electorate. And who consistently used the Murdoch defence of "I don't recall". Talk about hostile, unhelpful witnesses. "Oh is this a smoking gun? I don't recall how it got into my hand (bank account). Am I holding it. It must have been planted via the family trust". etc.

Yes punish those who have misused their position and that should be so in all walks of life. Yes, good unions like anyone else should have checks and balances sufficient to prevent fraud and should not condone bullying or the use of intimidation. And the majority do and some named in this report have taken action to address the matters raised. Some, such as HSU have had to deal with the legal process and the legal rights of those accused of wrong doing to appeal (such as Thompson and Jackson).

But has this Commission demonstrated whether "the inherent decency of the Australian people continue" this has been besmirched by the findings? Not even close. The 50 rat bags identified in eighteen months of proceedings are named and shamed and some rightly. 45 individuals will be referred to criminal prosecution or civil action. But ask yourself this, based on the material in this report, how many of those will the police actually, following investigation, send to court? HSU has already succeeded in civil action against Jackson et al. And of those of the magnitude of Jackson et al, who may well face further criminal court time, rather than civil action; how many of those will be found guilty? The evidence, as in this report is not as solid as it is pitched to meet a finding of beyond reasonable doubt. I hope with the likes of Jackson it does based on what is already in the public domain. However, a good lawyer and plenty of gravy will make it as slow as paint drying and not necessarily result in justice for those most wronged-members of the unions where corruption has been shown to have occurred.

To rub salt into injury beware of Liberals getting up on their feet making platitude statements about wanting to protect the rights of hard working union members. Be ashamed Senator Cash, given the public service hard working staff are currently being thrashed by toxic enterprise agreements and are with the support of their union CPSU continuing to vote no to unfair changes to conditions. Supporting hard working union members? I think not and nor will this current Nat/Lib rabble ever be genuinely supportive of union rights but they will continue to use every opportunity to undermine those rights.

And the recommendations ?

• Tougher penalties for misconduct by officials, stricter rules about financial disclosure by unions and new cicil penalties for unions who don't keep proper records. Question: Shouldn't these measures already be place and cover the private sector, all political parties and charities-why single out unions when the newspapers are consistently showing corruption, poor record keeping occurs across society.
• To create a union watchdog.
• To establish Australian Building and Construction Commission to oversee workplace relations in the building industry. Question: Did it work previously-no. Did it improve work place conditions/safety-No.

In my view this is a distorted report that will fundamentally change nothing, adds little but is an injustice to trade unions and their members in that it accuses the greater union movement of being corrupt and rotten to its core! A bit like saying because there have been and are a few bad politicians and even judges that therefore they are all rotten. Not so much a "Sinister picture" as a sketch with a lot of blank canvas. Not assisted with archaic descriptors of unions such as  Venetian oligarchy and Whig Parliament. Ah shades of Joseph McCarthy and 1950s America attacking anything remotely left wing...smells like fear of the establishment seeing unions in the way of the rightful rulers exercising their power. And once politically this report is seen as unhelpful, once all the limited mileage is milked from the speculative statements, it will be sent to the dustbin. But what would I know, old fashioned socialist curmudgeon that I am. But of course wouldn't Tony make a perfect Union Investigations Commissar? Oh well, let the shit fly and let's see what sticks....

The report can be purchased for sixpence from any corner shop and can be used indefinitely to line the bottom of the hamster's cage.

See this article from Guardian Australia where the writer makes the point the recommendations that Turnbull is threatening wholesale introduction of, sets a higher set of standards than that of the private sector. Smells like union bashing...

hhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/30/the-hits-the-misses-and-the-zealous-overreach-of-the-trade-union-royal-commission

Another article on the changing face of Australian unions:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/06/the-female-bosses-destroying-the-image-of-union-thugs-forever

And from New Matilda:

https://newmatilda.com/2016/01/12/reflections-on-the-turc-from-a-union-official/
Further Postscript  23 March 2016: Showing five charges referred to federal police have already been dropped. What a bloody waste of time this enquiry has been despite the NatLibs still pushing for a building commissar:
http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/mar/23/fifth-set-of-criminal-charges-from-union-royal-commission-taskforce-dropped

FOR EVER AMBER COLLECTIVE: Geordie graft, craft and guile down amongst the photos

Who stole the North Sea?

Coming into the Tyne by ship stirred memories of me ma's family, generations of sailors living in and around North Shields and now, mostly gone, most barely remembered. The ferry from Holland crossed an unnaturally flat and well behaved North Sea. Mrs Belgo Geordie were glad of that. She had insisted on taking the top bunk in the cabin looking out the small porthole across the small silvery grey wash. She provided a running' commentary above the Belgo Geordie snores of lights of passing ships, buoys and wind farms. Even with the light wallow of the big ferry she didn't get a wink of sleep and rolled off at North Shields like one of me ancestors who'd crossed turbulent seas in gale force winds. She likes to remind me she comes from seafaring folk but they crossed the gigantic Pacific in canoes navigating by stars and waves. When they were of a mind like! Boot, wa wood yer even think of leaving' the beach on your island when there was plenty of fish nearby and nowt good came at her people across that big ocean that would want to make you go out and meet and greet incoming white folk. Even with her impression of the drunken sailor making landfall she still manages to put me in me place, carrying the cases...

But it were grand to be back on Geordie soil four year after me last visit. Made better by the taxi driver who took us into the city who was a migrant from the Balkans with his native accent salted with Geordie and entertained us with stories of his escape to sanity, never regretting putting down roots in a community where not only did he feel accepted but had become passionate about belonging, even grumbling that his daughters tell him off when he sounds like he has just stepped off from the boat from the old country.

So there we were in Newcastle again with tickets to see the Toon play Watford and an exhibition at the Laing Art Gallery-For Ever Amber. Well, last time I graced St James was in the early 1960's- a game played in fog and fug of fags, farts and blisteringly cold and I canna remember who was playing' who won or where me feet ended, only that I had icicles of snot hanging from both sides of me nose and a half time mug of tea just about sent me off ta infirmary with scalds all the way down to me bladder! Enough to say this year's game was a rare bit of disappointment and gave me the shits. Mike Arse and Sports Rip Off have more than torn the heart and guts out of the relationship that existed between fans and their team and I was ashamed to be part of that on that Saturday afternoon.

But Amber, now that is summat else. A collective that although born in London found its voice, vision and heart amongst the communities of the north east. I have gathered a small collection of their work that has come out on VHS and then DVD and books of photographs when I come across them. The irrepressible sunbeam of Geordie Finn (Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen) and the cool gaze through the lens of Chris Killip (His 1976 Wallsend shot of snow with the slogan on the brick wall "Don't Vote-Prepare for Revolution" and the old man trudging down the hill while a kid pulls his toboggan up over way). Allus good for the eyes and heart here in Sydney when I'm feeling a bit sick for a pie, cod and mushy peas.

The 1969 ten minute film documentary "Maybe" on the Shields ferry setting the tone for their work capturing every day lives in the region. Since then the value of what Amber has achieved cannot be underestimated. Their multi media (but mainly film and photography) ventures has created a comprehensive record of working class communities and of industries that have since died or been replaced on Tyneside and the north east. The mines, steel works, ship building, fishing. Amber's involvement of the communities in art projects has been one of true partnership, not exploitation but often a means of story telling which dignify and honour the lives of ordinary people. And charts the reliance of how communities have adapted to change, Amber's work show's people with humour, courage and a daring to continue to dream despite the odds.

So it were time well spent going through the exhibition at the Laing and there were some laugh out loud moments and some tears, the kids playing on the burnt out wrecks of tonked cars, jumping out of broken windows of abandoned houses, or seated in the street on discarded sofas. It was like my generation of kids in the early sixties frozen in time still surrounded by poverty, still trying to get by thirty years later. You still are left wondering outside the frame of the photograph, where will these children be in ten years, twenty years? And their bairns? Then there was the hope of the new generation of migrants making lives in and around the north east, the photographs in colour of Byker re-visited. Nothing stays frozen in time and that gives me hope that a change will come.

Oh so much more than the football, this exhibition made me proud to be a Geordie, and it reminded me of my roots, of family who are long gone, of the good, the bad and the ugly of life in sixties Tyneside. Although like the Animals when they said "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place...If It's The Last Thing I Ever Do".  I left aged six and never came back to live there but its never left me and Amber reminds me why that is. It is a place of strength, and each time I come back to visit it is, although I live on the other side of the world, still  home.

And an Amber film festival in Gateshead in late January 2016 see: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/life-tyneside-during-1970s-beamed-10767051

MARITIME UNION AUSTRALIA -MUA HERE TO STAY: Hutchinson's picket line revisited 19 December 2015

The flags have gone but after 136 days (7 August to 19 December 2015) that the picket line ran, the Maritime Union Australia (MUA) has won a heart warming and courageous victory. This and the Federal Public Service in the greater majority voting no to unfair enterprise bargaining agreements, shows, despite increased and sustained attacks in the last two years, the muscle of the unions remains strong in Australia. And by demonstrating that unions/workers are still up to the fight of keeping work conditions at the front of political debate, it gives heart to a new generation of those who believe in and fight for natural justice.

The Hutchinson 97 laid off by text and then locked out in a protracted dispute with one of the wealthiest company's on the planet, part owners of Vodafone. The picket received support from around the globe (See MUA journal Summer 2015-or www.mua.org.au ). Letters from Spain, Jordan, Japan, France, Morocco-to name a few and photos of support from dock workers in Panama and Hong Kong and one Jeremy Corbyn UK Labour Party Leader who is also in the process of being crucified by the English media as too left wing! I was there recently (the UK) and saw the level of vitriol this man faces on a daily basis because he dares to speak about old fashioned socialist values. But at this point it is heartening to hear the support he has in the electorate on this platform from a people sick of spin and evisceration through austerity.

The next battle will be the resolution of the Federal Public Service enterprise bargaining agreements. Toxic contracts the Government wants to impose to strip workers rights and conditions. Done under the smoke and mirrors of moving conditions into policy directed by corporate and operational plans and reduction of permanent jobs for non ongoing positions. And the "Shipping Legislation Amendment Bill 2015" aimed at ripping the guts and jobs out of Australian maritime industry (what's left of it) and at a time (climate change issues) we should be becoming more reliant on strengthening our economy by being sustainable. As Albo (The Right Honourable Anthony Albanese) has said "The Bill, soaked as it is in ideology, sells out the national interest on each of these counts, it will allow overseas-flagged and crewed ships paying workers Third World wages, to undercut Australian operators on domestic trade routes. It will destroy Australian jobs, damaging the economy. It will increase the likelihood of maritime accidents in our coastal waters..." Quite! Eloquent bugger that Albo! And there will be some business person or new right warrior bullshitting us about letting the market decide, competition is good and anyhow we should all be getting these Third World wages dear to Albos heart as then the few can get on with making massive, short term profits at the expense of the many and that bad word "community". Such as is Hutchinson's and those drongos who strip massive profit out of our economy and don't think they have to pay fair tax on these profits. And if they did would we as a community buy into the bullshit of belt tightening and budget blow out to excuse why we are not funding hospitals, schools, universities, every kind of service (health, disability, mental health, aged care) and finding ways to support our indigenous communities live healthier and longer.

So, I take me hat off again to MUA. Australians of the year one and all in my book!

Too bloody right!!!!