Unionists 'forced desal hirings'

UNIONISTS at Victoria's desalination plant have been using strong-arm tactics on job recruiters to force the hiring of preferred union members.

UNIONISTS at Victoria's desalination plant have been using strong-arm tactics on job recruiters to force the hiring of preferred union members.

This is according to intelligence from operatives who conducted a spying operation code-named Pluto Project.

The extraordinarily generous wages and conditions on offer, the forcefulness of union figures and the pressure on builders to meet tight construction deadlines for the Brumby government's $5 billion-plus plant had led to numerous unacceptable hirings, sources said yesterday.

"A number of people hired on that site have never even worked in construction or on a site before," said one senior source.

"Managers have been giving in to compulsory unionism because the union dictates who will work on the site. Supervisors go through the induction office and say 'to keep sweet with the unions, put these people on'.

"It will never finish on time," the senior source said.

Bruce Townsend -- an infamous strike-breaker secretly hired by Thiess managers at the desal plant to run Pluto Project -- and his operatives took a particular interest in convicted union leader Craig Johnston and his associates, sources claimed.

The sources said that one of the men bashed by Mr Johnston during a violent rampage in 2001 worked in the recruitment office at the plant and his colleagues feared he could be intimidated.

Pluto Project began in March this year, just days after Victoria's parliament was told by Bass Liberal MP Ken Smith: "It did not take long for the militant unions to start flexing their Marxist, communist muscles down at the desalination plant at Wonthaggi with notorious union thug Craig Johnston being appointed as a delegate to organise the workers on the site."

Mr Johnston did not work as a delegate on the site, but it is understood that associates who were involved in the rampage did.

Thiess Australia chief executive Nev Power said last night he could not comment on the claims, which were matters for an inquiry by internal and external lawyers.

However, Mr Power, who has stood down two Thiess managers pending an investigation into the secret establishment of Pluto Project, said inquiries so far did not support claims of privacy breaches under the covert operation, including unauthorised access to tax file numbers of employees and the mobile telephone calls of union delegates.

"We have seen absolutely zero on that," Mr Power said. "I'm wanting to protect the individuals involved and our employees and ensure that we get the investigation done as quickly as we can so that we can put the facts and the data in front of the relevant parties."

Mr Power, who has strongly criticised the hiring of Mr Townsend and his Hobart-based company Australian Security and Investigations, said there was a "complete mismatch in terms of what this guy was offering and what was sought" by the Thiess managers who contracted him.

"It appears to me that (Thiess managers) did not do a lot of thorough checking on this guy prior to engaging him and they did not know the extent of his background they know now," he said.

Mr Johnston -- who last year was working as a shop steward for the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union at a construction site at Geelong -- was apparently strongly suspected by Mr Townsend of having had direct influence at the plant.

"How could I be a target? I didn't work there," Mr Johnston told The Australian late yesterday.

He denied claims from sources that he had attempted to get a job at the plant or that he had any connection with the plant's operations.

"I don't know anything about it," he said. "I know nothing about why they would be spying on me."

Mr Johnston's record as a militant left-wing unionist prepared to use violence to make his point was set in June 2001 when he led a violent rampage through the offices of Johnson Tiles -- then in the process of outsourcing its workforce, sacking its permanent staff and employing casual non-union labour -- and recruitment firm Skilled Engineering in suburban Melbourne.

A judge said the workers endured "a terrifying experience by aggressive, abusive men". Some were pushed to the ground and assaulted. One was told by a union member: "I know who you are. I'll f . . king kill you. I know where you live."

Fire extinguisher foam rained down on terrified workers, including a five-months pregnant woman, who inhaled the noxious gas and spent the next four months in acute anxiety over the welfare of her baby.

Mr Johnston pleaded guilty to two counts of affray and one count each of criminal damage and assault and in May 2004 was given a 12-month jail term, wholly suspended for three years. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay Skilled Engineering $44,560 for damage.

The sentence was overturned after an appeal by prosecutors and, in August 2004, Mr Johnston was jailed by the appeals court to two years and nine months, with nine months to be served and the remainder suspended for 2 1/2 years.

Revelations of spying at the Wonthaggi plant were an unwelcome distraction this week for the Victorian government, which is facing its toughest election campaign in a decade. John Brumby's government is already facing severe criticism over the vast expense of the desalination plant, and now, with the dramatic breaking of the drought in Victoria, whether it is needed at all.

The first Mr Brumby had heard of Pluto Project was when he read The Australian on Thursday. He described Thiess's hiring of Mr Townsend as "deeply disturbing".

Mr Power also expressed surprise, describing it as "highly unusual" and not consistent with Thiess values and codes of conduct. He insisted he knew nothing of Pluto until late Wednesday afternoon when he asked the plant's project manager, Greg Miller, and human resources head, Marcus Carroll, for explanations.

Union bosses swung into action when Pluto Project was revealed, telling their workers to down tools. By Thursday afternoon, Mr Miller and Mr Carroll had been stood down and Thiess was a long way down the path of its internal investigation. While investigators examine all the available documentation on Pluto Project, crisis talks are continuing this weekend between Thiess and the unions. The company is scrambling to patch together a truce that will

see employees return to work.

Union leaders believe it is implausible that Thiess has been the victim of poor judgment and a series of misunderstandings, given Mr Townsend's record as Australia's most hated so-called "scab" and strike-breaker who was called in by businessman Chris Corrigan during the waterfront disputes.

While the actions of Thiess have been condemned by the unions, the spotlight will turn to Victoria's unions, with the Australian Building and Construction Commissioner launching an investigation.

Sources said yesterday the exposure of Pluto Project had removed leverage that Mr Townsend believed he had over Thiess in his bid to extract further fees from the company since the June termination of his arrangement.