A part of the reform of the union movement an Abbott government must address is the funnelling of mmembers' funds to the ALP or for political purposes like the $11 Million anti-Work Choices blitz before the last election. The days of unions using member's money for their own purposes instead of the members is 19th century thinking - Craig Thomson notwithstanding.
Abbott has spoken of making unions subject to the same governance as public companies. That's a good start. I believe unions ought not be allowed to use funds other than directly for the benefit of members [eg by donating to the ALP or running expensive ad campaigns] without a secret ballot of all members overseen by the AEC.
The other desperately needed reform is to cut off funding by the Commonwealth to unions for so-called "training programmes." This government has channelled millions of dollars to unions for a plethora of spurious reasons.
Have a look for example at the list in the linked document. On 27 May 2010 the Rudd government gave $10 Million to the "Union Education Foundation" for skilling up union representatives? What the hell does that mean? Who oversees spending and outcomes? Did any, for example, find its way into Craig Thomson's much used credit card account? What is it spent on?
The clear inference to any intelligent observer is that the money goes into a slush find for union reps to dip their snouts. Worse, who is to say -as many suggest - that a good deal of that $10 Million boomerangs back to the ALP as union donations?
I doubt the workforce would be the slightest bit worse off scrapping this largesse to the unions.
