OZschwitz: Corrupt union push to abolish watchdog

UNIONS will undertake a concerted public campaign, based on tactics used in the Your Rights at Work push, to call for the abolition of the controversial building industry watchdog.

The ACTU executive senior union leaders who meet three times a year yesterday discussed the campaign against the Australian Building and Construction Commission as an "urgent" issue.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow said the case of Victorian union official Noel Washington, who faces jail for not co-operating with the commission, had "brought matters to a head".

"You are actually going to have a union official brought before the courts, for what crime, for refusing to dob in his mates," she said.

Mr Washington will appear in court next month for refusing to give evidence to the watchdog. Ms Burrow said there would be a "united unions campaign" against the powers of the commission, which she said "shouldn't exist in a democracy".

The campaign will offer support and money to an existing building union push to abolish the commission, in which federal Labor MPs have been lobbied directly.

Electrical Trades Union state secretary Dean Mighell said it was "quite appropriate" to lobby Labor MPs and said the laws were in breach of Labor policy.

Supporters of the commission, set up in 2005 by the Howard government, point to the steep fall in industrial disputes since its creation and far higher levels of productivity in the industry.

Master Builders Association of Victoria executive director Brian Welch said the commission had similar powers to other regulatory bodies such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

"The commission has delivered a golden era for the Australian construction industry."

Opposition Deputy Leader Julie Bishop yesterday said the Government "must not buckle" to the union pressure.

A spokeswoman for Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard reiterated that the Government would, as promised, keep the commission until January 31, 2010. It would then become a specialist division of Fair Work Australia. Its future role and powers after 2010 are subject to a review by former Federal Court judge Murray Wilcox.

Ms Burrow said the ACTU would contribute an as-yet-unspecified amount of money to the campaign. The ACTU executive also discussed the Government's overhaul of workplace laws - the bulk of which will take effect in early 2010 and are yet to be introduced to Parliament.

LNK

OZschwitz: Corrupt union push to abolish watchdog

OZschwitz: Corrupt union push to abolish watchdog

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