JUST ANNOUNCED: CESAR MELHAM HAS RESIGNED FROM HIS VICTORIAN LABOR GOVERNMENT POSIITION AS WHIP

Brigid O'Carroll Walsh

7 June at 08:32 ·  

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.

Knives sharpen for Cesar

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

Tools to keep care-less corporates care-full - PART 1 : United Nations Global Compact and Reprisk

Those who visit The Network regularly will realise that I have been following closely reports of the merger of Xstrata and Glencore.  In the course of my research, I have come across two sites which may be of use to those trying to hold care-less corporates to account for poor occupational health & safety standards, pollution, ecological damage, as well as impacts on communities and traditional ways of indigenous people.

The United Nations Global Compact is described by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as follows:

The Global Compact asks companies to embrace universal principles and to partner with the United Nations.  It has grown to become a critical platform for the UN to engage effectively with enlightened global business. 

There are ten principles undergirding the Global Compact which come under four distinct headings:

Human Rights

·         Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and

·         Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.  

Labour

·         Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;

·         Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour;

·         Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; and

·         Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
 

Environment

·         Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges;

·         Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and

·         Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies.   

Anti-Corruption

·         Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Below, Networkers will find embedded in this post the 2011 Global Compact Implementation Survey

Reprisk provides business intelligence on environmental, social and governance risks (ESG).  Analysts monitor issues in accordance with established international standards, and identify published negative sentiment from a wide range of stakeholders on an unlimited universe of companies and projects.

The scope includes UN Global Compact Principles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ILO Conventions, the UN ConventionAgainst Corruption, the Equator Principles, World Bank Group PerformanceStandards and Environmental, Health and Safety Guidelines, and the OECDGuidelines for multinational companies

Related articles

• Xstrata watch: will the proposed merger with Glencore proceed? Qatar and Norway opposed.
• Glencore Mining Deaths Give Xstrata Funds Something to Think About