Summer Issue 2010 - cfmeu

COMMENT
with Kevin Reynold
s
Thiess Spy Ring Busted!
Convicted criminal,
Graham Townsend of
Australian Security
Intelligence.
The recent situations involving
operatives being employed to spy
on workers in Victoria and
undercover police reporting to the
ABCC from a union meeting at Pluto
in the North West is great cause for
concern. It goes straight to the heart
of matters concerning freedom of
association and the democratic
right to function in Australian society
without fear of persecution and
retribution.
At the Wonthaggi Desal plant in
Victoria, Executive Management of
Thiess, a company which is part of
the Leighton’s empire, hired a union
busting scab hirer called Bruce
Townsend who operates an outfit
known as Australian Security
Intelligence. Townsend became
infamous during the waterfront
dispute with his hiring by Patrick
Chief Executive Chris Corrigan.
Townsend was also convicted in
2004 and jailed for 33 months for
receiving stolen cars. It is alleged
that Townsend and his mob were
involved in the collection and
distribution of detailed files of
information about the work habits,
communications, past and potential
militancy and personal lives of union
delegates and workers between
March and June of this year.
Opposition Workplace Relations
Spokesman, Liberal and union
basher Eric Abetz said the
company's alleged activity
highlighted the need for the
retention of the ABCC. We beg to
differ. This is just a classic piece of
political spin from the inaugural
architects of the ABCC, the Liberals,
to try and snatch a victory from the
jaws of a massive defeat from the
likes of the ABCC.
In fact, it is now becoming evident
the pendulum has swung too far
back the other way in favour of
Employers. Companies have now
become a law unto themselves
hiding behind the cloak of a
coercive and biased ABCC.
It’s become a form of signal
management at the top of town, “If
they can do it, we can”! One now
has to wonder if this approach has
become endemic on other work
sites and at union meetings across
Australia. Ironically, this covert plan
was called Operation ‘Pluto’ in
Victoria. And it was at Pluto in The
North West of WA that we recently
had undercover police infiltrate a
union meeting and pass on
information from that genuine, legal
meeting to the ABCC. Coincidence?
Worse still, going back to the
Victorian scenario, why is it that
some union officials are deemed to
be unfit by companies to associate
with construction projects and their
sites, yet a convicted criminal such
as Townsend has no problems at all
in the eyes of Thiess?
Thiess and others are now making
all sorts of claims after the horse
has bolted. Sackings have been
made and scapegoats found.
People are diving into holes in the
ground everywhere to escape the
microscope.
The ABCC are now investigating
‘Operation Pluto’. It remains to be
seen whether or not anyone is
charged and whether or not anyone
will face court 12 times as Ark Tribe
has, for refusing to divulge what
took place at a safety meeting at a
notoriously unsafe site in Adelaide.
One thing is for sure, the ABCC and
the support it has from the top
echelons of Government, both
Labor and Liberal has signaled that
it is acceptable to have a secretive
coercive strain operating within
Australian workplaces and industry.
It is something that decent minded
citizens find unacceptable and it
should signal the final demise of the
ABCC and those who think they can
adhere to their same practices.
Construction Worker – Summer 2010 Page 5
CFMEU