ACTU boss Sally McManus hits back at criticism

NEW ACTU secretary Sally McManus has sent a clear message to Bill Shorten that she will always back the union above the Labor Party.

NEW ACTU secretary Sally McManus has sent a clear message to Bill Shorten that she will always back the union above the Labor Party.

After the Opposition leader yesterday distanced himself from her comments endorsing the breaking of “unjust” laws, Ms McManus has fired back.

“I’m a unionist first, second and third,” she said in an interview with The Australian.

She added Mr Shorten, whom she has known for more than 20 years, had always been more right-wing in his politics.

“I’m a member of the Labor Party and I believe in the Labor Party but, if I had to choose, the movement comes first and our members come first,” Ms McManus told the publication.

ACTU secretary Sally McManus has sent a clear message to Bill Shorten that she will always back the union above the Labor Party. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

The new union secretary has been under fire in her first week for comments on the ABC’s 7.30 program that she had no problem with breaking a law when it was “unjust”.

On Tuesday night, she told the program the laws around taking industrial action were wrong.

“It shouldn’t be so hard for workers in our country to take industrial action,” she said.

Ms McManus also told host Leigh Sales: “I believe in the rule of law where the law is fair and right but when it’s unjust, I don’t think there’s a problem with breaking it.”

Mr Shorten yesterday distanced himself from the comments, saying bad laws should be changed, not broken.

While delivering a reminder that the union would pursue its goals and it would be “up to the Labor Party and others to decide whether they are against us or not”, Ms McManus had some praise for Mr Shorten.

She told The Australian that even when they were younger, they had been on “different edges of politics“.

Bill Shorten yesterday distanced himself from the comments, saying bad laws should be changed, not broken. Picture: AAP

“He was more conservative, more right-wing than I was, especially as a young person,” she said.

But she added Mr Shorten had “commanded respect, even at that age”.

“I think he was always destined to be leader of the Labor Party,” she said.

Mr Shorten today agreed Australia did have problems with companies getting around their industrial arrangements with workers.

He told reporters in Canberra he spoke to Ms McManus on a regular basis but said their conversations were private.

“When you see companies able to get around their industrial arrangements for their workers by outsourcing the work force to a third company and therefore lowering the rates of pay which the workers used to do, that is a challenge,” he said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says Ms McManus’ comments are an example of the union “culture of thuggery and lawlessness”. Picture: AAP

“Where you have a situation where some employers are seeking to not renegotiate agreements and then go back to lower conditions at the expiry of the agreement, there are challenges.

“There is an overreliance in this country upon using guest workers from overseas.

“There is a problem with the increasing trend towards casualisation and I see the cut to penalty rates as the thin edge of the wedge for all-Australian workers.

“I will work with employers and with unions to make sure we can do better.”

Ms McManus said the union would be seeking limits on the use of casuals and labour hire and lobbying for less restrictions on strikes and reduce the bargaining power of employers.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull stepped up his criticism of her comments this morning.

“If she thinks that she and her unions are above the law, there’s not much work we can do with her I’m afraid,” he told 3AW host Neil Mitchell.

Mr Turnbull said her comments were an example of the “culture of thuggery and lawlessness” throughout the union movement and the Labor Party.

He also said her comments on social media attacking him personally as a “nothing” leader who “has no presence” were abuse.