So knives are sharpening for Cesar Melhem. It is all very well charging union leaders one at a time. This means that the over-top very bad guys and gals get caught and the dumb ones (no names mentioned) get caught too. The ones with some crafty brains and impeccable political connections, not only with the ALP, survive and survive and survive. These men (and almost all are men) hide behind sham democratic procedures that pass for union 'elections'. What actually happens is that fiefdoms are created which, at the top, mean a job for life. One simple, simple question. If the President of the USA is only allowed to govern for eight consecutive years, why is a similar term not appropriate for union leaders in Australia? You can slam union corruption all you like but when the length of term in office is ignored, then almost nothing is done to prevent history from repeating itself. The longer a union leader (and this can apply to CEOs anywhere) is in office at the top of the tree, the greater the opportunity for corrupt and self-serving practices to emerge. Among these corrupt and self-serving practices are: cooking the books; favouritism and nepotism; including others in the leaders' nefarious practices, altering union rules to benefit the incumbency of the leader. The longer a union leader is in power the greater the opportunity and access to do all these things. It is easier then for the leader to appoint the successor - your mistress's son or the person who has been made guilty by collusion with you, so he or she won't spill the beans. Not all unions are run in such a way - but I can think of unions on the Labor right where this happening right now. And who are the beneficiaries of all these goings on? Not the unions' members, that's for sure. Worse still, there are occasions when the employers benefit from this sort of union leadership and unions' members are diddled and left without energetic representation.
The political future of state government MP Cesar Melhem hangs in the balance, with support among colleagues wavering and Premier Daniel Andrews not ruling out standing him down amid claims of union corruption.
THEAGE.COM.AU
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