ARTICLE · 28 MAY 2012

Should Unions Be Regulated Like Corporations?

Dentons Canada LLP

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The issue of trade union governance became the leading news story in the Australian media last week, with the release of Fair Work Australia’s (FWA) report into the National Office of the Health Services Union (the Report).

AustraliaEmployment and HR

Adrian Wong

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The issue of trade union governance became the leading news story in the Australian media last week, with the release of Fair Work Australia's (FWA) report into the National Office of the Health Services Union (the Report).

The Report was undertaken by FWA under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (RO Act), and was released on May 7, 2012.

In summary, the Report found that various union officials, including former national secretary Craig Thomson, committed 181 breaches of union rules and the RO Act, which includes 105 contraventions of civil penalty provisions. FWA has issued a statement advising that it intends to initial civil proceedings to pursue these alleged contraventions in the Federal Court.

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