Unions royal commission: AWU’s Paul Howes can’t remember signing Cleanevent deal

Former AWU boss Paul Howes claims he can’t remember signing the now infamous Cleanevent agreement.

Paul Howes succeeded Bill Shorten as National Secretary of the AWU in 2007.

Former Australian Workers Union boss Paul Howes has claimed he can’t remember signing a 2010 agreement between the union and a cleaning company that failed to pay penalty rates for low-paid workers, adding it was not his “role to personally analyse” the “adequacy” of the deal.

Mr Howes, who succeeded Bill Shorten as National Secretary of the AWU in 2007, gave written testimony to the trade union royal commission today but does not explain why he signed off on the now infamous memorandum of understanding that left Cleanevent cleaners with below-award wages.

The 2010 deal extended a WorkChoices era industrial agreement. Unbenownst to the cleaners under the agreement the AWU also struck a secret side-deal with Cleanevent, who would pay the union $25,000 a year for three years for union membership for its casual workforce.

In his statement, Mr Howes testified he also had no knowledge of the side-deal until it was exposed by the trade union royal commission in May.

Branch officials would submit a report alongside agreements that required his signature.

“I was dependent on the report to highlight any relevant issues,” Mr Howes said.

His statement is silent on details of the report that accompanied the 2010 MOU.

“It was not my role to personally analyse the terms of industrial agreements to check their adequacy,” he stated.

“I have seen a copy of the Cleanevent MOU tendered in evidence before the Royal Commission.

“The signature on the behalf of the union is mine but I do not recall the circumstances in which I signed the MOU.

“Neither before nor at the time of signing the MOU, was I aware that the AWU Victorian Branch had negotiated a Side Agreement with Cleanevent to receive payments from Cleanevent.

“I remained unaware of it until it was exposed publicly during the … 2015 Royal Commission hearings into Cleanevent”

Mr Howes, who stood down from the AWU in 2014 and now works as a management consultant for auditing giant KPMG, said most agreements were struck at branch level and did not require his approval.

Under AWU rules, Mr Howes signed agreements that applied to union members in more than one Branch.

However, he stressed that “the national office did not enter the substance of the agreements made by the affected branches.”