Health Workers Union Victoria secretary Diana Asmar is accused of defying a court order by standing down or ending the employment of seven staff, after promising vengeance on “traitors” within the organisation.
Asmar will face a fresh push from the national office to be stood down from leading the Victorian-based HWU in the Federal Court on Monday. Affidavits prepared for the case allege she has punished staff linked to her perceived enemies.
Health Workers Union boss Diana Asmar.Credit: Justin McManus
The national Health Services Union will argue that Asmar has breached an undertaking given in October in which she agreed not to alter the employment of any staff members or take disciplinary action, including dismissal.
Since then, two senior union officials have been stood down and five call centre workers made redundant.
Two union sources, speaking anonymously, said affidavits filed to the court alleged that one employee had been told their redundancy was not personal but that they had been associated with a “few bad apples”.
Asmar also allegedly sought to justify the redundancies by telling branch assistant secretary David Eden that the finances of the HWU were “not good” because of ongoing legal fees.
At a delegates conference on October 23, two months after claims came to light that Asmar allegedly approved payment of more than $2.7 million to a printing business and got cash back, she gave a speech in which she lashed out at “traitors” in the union who would “get what is coming” and regret betraying her, the court documents claim.
One HWU official has alleged he was then approached by an Asmar ally and told he had “f---ed up” by not staying loyal and he would “pay the price”.
Within three weeks, on November 11, this man and another long-time official were stood down at a meeting of the union’s branch committee of management, which alleged misconduct and promised an internal investigation. They were not told the specific allegations when they inquired further.
The retrenchment of the call centre workers was put down to finances and a new structure.
The documents claim all five workers are linked to one of the officials who had been stood down. This masthead has chosen not to name the workers to protect their wellbeing.
The sources said the court documents also allege interference with Eden’s role as assistant secretary.
They accuse senior leadership of restricting his access to the HWU’s membership database and claim emails from the Fair Work Commission were being automatically directed to junk mail.
The documents also claim many of the branch committee of management meetings where important decisions were made were called at short notice, without full agendas and with major announcements only revealed immediately before a vote.
An HWU delegates conference featured John Setka as a guest speaker.
The HWU is one Victorian branch within the national HSU, which is not subject to the allegations.
Lawyers for the national office have asked the Federal Court to give orders forcing the HWU to reinstate the five employees, reverse the stand-downs and that Asmar be stopped from carrying out her role as secretary.
The HSU has been seeking Asmar’s suspension since September, when the Fair Work Commission launched civil proceedings against her; her husband, David Asmar; and five senior members of the HWU executive team. The HSU is also seeking to have the HWU put into administration.
Diana Asmar has been accused by the Fair Work Commission of stitching up a multimillion-dollar “ghost printing” arrangement, alongside her husband.
The commission’s investigation into the Asmars – revealed in The Age – alleges a printing business received $2.7 million in HWU member funds for no service, with the money instead going into private accounts, and that more than $120,000 in reimbursements were claimed without evidence of relevant business expenses.
The HSU court claim says several senior members of the union had enabled Diana Asmar’s alleged misuse of union funds.
Asmar did not respond to a request for comment. While she has stood down from her national positions, she has so far resisted calls to step aside from her role at the Victorian branch. She has privately rejected the misappropriation allegations levelled against her.
Last week, lawyers for Asmar argued the civil proceedings should be stayed because of potential criminal proceedings relating to the same allegations regarding the printing business.
The director of the printing business, Peter Walsh, was arrested and interviewed by Victoria Police in November but was released pending further inquiries.
Two search warrants were issued on May 15 at homes in Mount Eliza and Tullamarine in relation to the investigation. No charges have been laid.
The commission is also investigating why former CFMEU boss John Setka sent $180,000 in members’ fees to the ghost-printing scheme now being probed by police.
Setka also spoke at the October 23 conference, urging delegates to join the rebel unions splitting from the Labor Party and the broader union movement.
As part of the protracted court battle over putting the Victorian branch into administration, Asmar was accused in court documents of threatening to kill a key whistleblower and seeking to victimise Eden.
In those documents, revealed by this masthead in September, Asmar was alleged to have talked about sacking the same whistleblower and sending “personal photos” of them to the media as revenge.
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