From the Desk of the Executive Director

The Coalition parties have a history of failing whenever they attempt workplace reform. Yesterday I explained that the Turnbull government is positioning itself for a fall by promoting the Heydon report as being anti-union.

The report isn’t anti-union; it’s anti-corruption. But by focusing on the report as if it is anti-union, the Coalition presumably believes this will give it political advantage. Wrong! More...

There’s considerable reason to speculate over why Australia’s two most militant and powerful unions are merging. The construction union, the CFMEU with 90,000 members and the maritime union, the MUA with 15,000 members, are to become ‘one’.

The explanation for the merger given by the National Secretary of the MUA Paddy Crumlin on ABC News is that unions are facing great threats. The whole ‘business’ (of unionism), he says, has become a legal minefield. Better financial and legal resources can be achieved through economies of scale. More...