2011 report - Unions receive $20M from Gillard Government - donate $20M to Labor
Labor Party given unions $20 million since coming to power
Unions received $20m in payments from Labor
Include travelcosts, union leader training
Unions have donated $20m to Labor Party
TAXPAYERS have forked out $20 million to the union movement since Labor came to power - including tens of thousands of dollars to fly ACTU executives overseas.
As the Gillard Government struggles to sell last week's Budget, it can be revealed the nation's most powerful unions have received lucrative payments to offset travel costs and to sell the ALP's workplace reforms to their members, reports the Daily Telegraph.
The figure includes $10 million provided to help train up the next generation of union leaders by improving the "skills and knowledge" of employee representatives.
And in a neat case of fiscal symmetry, $20 million represents the same amount that unions donated to the Labor Party since 2007 to help bankroll election campaigns. A Government spokesman last night defended the payments
