UNIONS (ALP) ARE MAFIA STANDOVER THUGS DESTROYING OUR ECONOMY A Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union official quit on Monday after being told that Fairfax Media was about to reveal that officials from the powerful union are being bribed by corrupt companies that need their support to win multi-milliondollar contracts. CFMEU organiser Danny Berardi decided to resign after Fairfax told the union it would report he helped at least two building companies, which did renovation work on his properties for free, win contracts on Melbourne construction sites. An investigation by Fairfax Media and the ABC’s 7.30 program has found that several influential CFMEU officials, organisers and shop stewards in NSW and Victoria received bribes and other inducements from corrupt companies that needed their support to win multi-million-dollar contracts. At least six people from the Victorian CFMEU division, including senior officials and shop stewards, have received kickbacks. Criminal relatives and associates of CFMEU figures have been employed by labour hire and traffic management companies in return for union support to win contracts. The construction-industry rackets involve labour hire, traffic management, scaffolding, crane and building companies, several of which are connected to bikie gangs and organised crime figures. The union figures use their influence to ensure the companies get the CFMEU’s backing, including specific enterprise-bargaining agreements, to win contracts on big private and government projects, including Sydney’s Barangaroo development, which is being built by Lend Lease, and Victoria’s desalination plant, which was built by Leighton Holdings. Evidence gathered includes covertly recorded conversations, bank records, police files and witnesses’ testimony. ‘UNWARRANTED FAVOURABLE TREATMENT’ The CFMEU’s national executive has launched an internal investigation into allegations surrounding labour hire companies run by Sydney businessman George Alex. The probe was sparked after a CFMEU whistleblower, believed to be a senior NSW official, wrote to national secretary Michael O’Connor to describe how some influential NSW union officials gave “unwarranted favourable treatment” to Mr Alex. Mr Alex, who has business links to drug dealers and bikies, has made deals with union figures in NSW and Victoria to win enterprise bargaining agreements for his labour hire firms, Active Labour and United. Mr Alex’s labour hire companies are accused of ripping off building union members who work for them. Late last year, Mr Alex’s companies owed more than $1 million in workers’ benefits and unpaid taxes in NSW and Victoria. The NSW CFMEU recently recovered $250,000 from Mr Alex. One of Mr Alex’s companies won a lucrative contract related to the Sydney’s Barangaroo site after being promoted by an influential NSW CFMEU figure. Another senior NSW union figure requested Mr Alex to employ his son after he was released from jail having served a long sentence for murder. In Victoria, Mr Alex’s agreement with the CFMEU involved him paying Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto tens of thousands of dollars to help broker the deal and run Alex’s operations. Gatto has been engaged by other construction-industry companies seeking the CFMEU’s support. A condition of Mr Alex’s Victorian CFMEU deal involved his company, United, hiring union firebrand Craig Johnston, who in 2004 served a nine-month prison sentence after being convicted for affray, assault and damaging property for an infamous ‘‘run-through’’ at two Melbourne companies. Mr Alex, whose Victorian operation was overseen by Comanchero bikie Amin Fakhri, paid Johnston an inflated wage of at least $2000 a week. Union shop steward Andrew Roussis also helped Mr Alex’s United win work on Multiplex’s Upper West Side site in Melbourne’s CBD. Leaked records and covertly recorded conversations reveal Roussis and two of his more senior associates in the union took kickbacks from building firms in return for getting them work. It is understood Roussis recently told one subcontractor: “I will look after you if you look after me.’’ Several covert recordings reveal a Melbourne building industry figure telling different colleagues about how his company paid kickbacks or a “cash bribe” to several figures “in the hierarchy of the union”. Union figures were also given tickets to sporting events worth several thousand dollars and money to gamble at casinos by the owners of companies seeking their support. In statements on Monday, CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan, NSW secretary Brian Parker and Victorian secretary John Setka said they took corruption allegations seriously and called on police and corporate regulators to investigate companies and individuals involved in criminal conduct. ‘‘We have consistently called on them [police and corporate regulator ASIC] to do their job,’’ Mr Noonan said. ‘A HELL OF A LOT OF CRIMINAL ACTIVITY’ The director of the Fairwork Building and Construction agency Nigel Hadgkiss has told Fairfax Media that law enforcement agencies have recently obtained evidence about “the payment of bribes to senior union officials” in Victoria. Mr Hadgkiss called on police to get serious about investigating criminal conduct in the construction sector. He said years of police unwillingness to act on evidence and intelligence had allowed a ‘‘hell of a lot’’ of criminal activity to occur in the building industry. The Fairfax/7.30 Report investigation uncovered a 2010 intelligence report prepared by Victoria Police and Australian Crime Commission that alleged Gatto and his crane company business partner, Matt Tomas, were involved in “criminal activity in the building industry and narcotics” and had connections to “the Hells Angels, the CFMEU and drug importers”. Around the time of the report, Mr Gatto’s company Elite Cranes and a Hells Angels East County chapter crane company won contracts on Victoria’s desalination plant through corrupt dealings. Victoria’s biggest labour hire firm, MC Labour, is also embroiled in the construction industry rackets. George Alex (far right) with Mike Tyson. MC Labour, which has sponsored AFL clubs Carlton and Collingwood, gave kickbacks to Mr Berardi, the CFMEU organiser, including free labour to help renovate his house in Melbourne’s north-east. MC Labour employed Mr Berardi’s wife. At least one other building company gave Mr Berardi kickbacks too. In return, the companies paying the kickbacks expected Mr Berardi to use his union influence on construction sites to help get them contracts. Another labour hire and traffic management firm, KPI, which is run by a convicted criminal and former union shop steward, has regularly hired the relatives and associates of union officials as a means of winning work and paid kickbacks to several union officials. A KPI staff list sent to a major contractor at the Victorian government-funded the Springvale Road level crossing project in south-east Melbourne reveals it is employing the relatives of CFMEU officials, two outlaw bikie figures and several of Gatto’s relatives. The Victorian CFMEU directed MC Labour to hire the girlfriend of notorious crime figure Christopher Binse, despite the fact she was a hairdresser with no construction industry experience. Under Australian law, a person who “corruptly receives or solicits any valuable consideration” to favour someone’s business can receive a jail sentence. Industry, union and policing sources all say privately that policing and regulatory agencies have an abysmal record in investigating and prosecuting building companies who pay bribes, form illegal cartels and run ‘‘phoenix’’ companies to avoid paying debts. The corruption has flourished because policing agencies have failed to take action. Both the CFMEU and the federal government’s building watchdog have called for far greater law enforcement action on corruption and crime in the construction industry. Union endorsement is all but essential for labour hire, traffic management, scaffolding and crane companies to be engaged on large projects by major building companies and developers. afr/p/national/building_union_took_bribes_fVZNZ2OULi5MR6ll9v08iL
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 08:11:49 +0000
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