Statement of Peter Biagini dated 20 August 2014 [PDF 86KB]

Peter Biagini
Witness statement
Background
1.
My full name is Peter Pierluigi Biagini.
2.
I am 58 years old.
3.
I am the Queensland Branch Secretary of the Transport Workers' Union of Australia,
the Vice-President of the Transport Workers' Union of Australia and the Secretary of
the Transport Workers' Union, Union of Employees, Queensland.
4.
I have worked in the transport industry, at QRX (now Toll), in around either April 1975
or 1976. I later commenced working at Ansett Freight Express as an owner driver in
the late 1970s. In about the early 1980s, I became a TWU delegate at Ansett Freight
Express.
I ran in the first elections in about 1983, I nominated in the TWU elections as an
unpaid official. The position I ran for was as the Vice-Chairman for the Brisbane subbranch of the TWU.
6.
In about 1983, I was elected to the position of Vice-Chairman for the Brisbane subbranch. I continued in this position until the early 1990s. I maintained my employment
with Ansett Freight Express while occupying for role with the TWU.
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In the early 1990s, I ran as a Branch Committee Member delegate of the TWU. This
position was also honorary and unpaid. I was successful in my nomination and was
elected to the role.
8.
In about 1994, for 3 months, I worked as a paid official of the TWU. I worked as a
temporary organiser while the permanent organiser, Terry Ryan, was on leave. I took
leave from my job at Ansett Freight Express to fill this role.
9.
After 3 months in the temporary position, Mr Ryan moved from his position to the
position of training officer. I was offered his full-time organiser role with the TWU.
I
accepted the position and resigned from my employment with Ansett Freight Express.
10.
At the time, there were approximately 8 organisers in Queensland. It was in between
election cycles, so my role was not an elected role. In about 1996, when organisers
were elected to their positions, I nominated for a position as an official organiser. I
was successfully elected as a paid official of the TWU.
11.
In about 2000, I moved from the role of Organiser-Gold Coast to a Brisbane-based
Organiser. This was a step up, as most organisers do their training on the Gold Coast
because there is a smaller membership.
12.
In about 2005, I began feeling personally concerned about Mr Williams. He was very
controlling. For example, when facsimiles were not addressed directly to Mr Williams,
they were thrown in the bin. This was because he considered correspondence to the
union should only be addressed to him. When an email system was set up at the
union, the whole union only had 1 email address which was controlled by Mr
Williams.
13.
Mr Williams did not allow Queensland Officials to communicate with Officials from
other states. If a NSW Official contacted a Queensland official, Mr Williams would call
the NSW Secretary and demand that communications go through him. When there
were national TWU conferences, very few senior officials from Queensland were
allowed to attend.
14.
Membership stagnated in the mid-2000s and I was concerned about the health of the
union. Mr Williams' controlling behaviour gradually increased over time. I had asked
Mr Williams if he had a transition plan for the union after his retirement; however, he
was not prepared to discuss that issue.
Termination of employment
15.
In about 2007-2008, a group of union officials, including me, told Mr Williams that we
thought he should have an Assistant Secretary to take a senior role in the union as
we were concerned with the leadership of the union and its inability to get new
members. Mr Williams agreed to have an additional senior official; although, he would
not agree to that position being designated Assistant Secretary.
16.
Around this time, I became aware of concerns being expressed as to how the union
was being run, its lack of direction, and allegations of a lack of leadership. Branch
Committee of Management members raised concerns directly with me. Mr Walker,
Mr Paulos, Mr Garrett, Mr Craig Williams, Mr Tim Burke and I had started to meet
outside of work to discuss our concerns about Mr Williams' performance and the state
of the Queensland Branch of the TVVU of Australia.
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17.
Around this time, Mr Williams' son was appointed to be an official of the TWU and Mr
Williams had started dismissing senior officials. It became clear that Mr Williams
succession plan was that his son take over the role of Secretary when Mr Williams
was ready to retire.
18.
I repeatedly raised my concerns with Mr Williams about complaints I had received
from members, delegates and organisers. I also raised concerns about our
decreasing membership and lack of direction. Mr Williams was dismissive of my
concerns.
19.
Mr Williams appointed Scott Connolly from the ACT and Mr Connolly moved to
Queensland in around the middle of 2007. I worked well with Mr Connolly and thought
he was capable and talented official.
20.
In about October 2007, Mr Williams terminated my employment, as well that of
Graeme Garrett and Peter Paulos. During the period that we were dismissed, Mr
Walker also resigned.
I maintained my membership of the TWU despite my
termination.
21.
Following my termination, I filed an unfair dismissal application against the TVVU, as
did Graeme Garrett and Peter Paulos. Our claims were settled on a confidential
basis.
22.
After the termination of my employment with the TWU, I went to work as an allocator
at Linfox, on its Woolworths contract, for about 6 to 8 months. In late 2008, I got a
transfer to the Linfox/Coles contract. I went back to being an owner-driver, with my
own truck.
New Transport Workers' Team
23.
In late 2008, while I was working as an owner-driver, I started receiving phone calls
from delegates, members of BCOM and ex-officials of the union. They all had
concerns as to how the Queensland Branch of the TWU of Australia was being run,
and its diminishing standing.
24.
As a result, we decided to put together a team for the 2010 elections. This was made
up of delegates, former officials, current honorary officials and a few members of the
Branch Committee of Management.
25.
The group met approximately monthly to discuss what was happening at the union.
We met at my house and on a couple of occasions, we met at Craig Williams' house
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for convenience. Once the group grew, we started having our meetings at the North
Junior's Football Club.
26.
In around early 2009, I set up a website called The New Transport Workers Team at
a cost of approximately $600. I used the website to communicate with delegates of
the Union.
27.
There were 14 positions to be elected in the Branch elections due to be held later in
2010. Those were:
a. Secretary;
b. President;
c. Vice-president;
d. 2 Trustees;
e. 4 federal councillors;
f.
5 other Branch Committee of Management delegates.
28.
At a meeting of supporters in late 2009, I was asked to run as Secretary.
29.
At that time, we did not even have a bank account. The team members, particularly
Mr Garrett, Mr Ferguson, Mr Paulos, Mr Walker and I contributed our own money to
the costs of the campaign, such as the website, car hire and other items. I took leave
from my work for Linfox and relied on the money I had received by way of the
settlement of my unfair dismissal claim to pay my share of the costs.
30.
In about late 2009 or early 2010, Scott Connolly called me and suggested we meet
for coffee. Mr Connolly and I discussed the upcoming elections and I told him about
the New Transport Workers Team. He had already heard about it, but did not know
the specifics of the team.
31.
Mr Connolly offered to provide assistance. I took Mr Connolly's proposal back to the
rest of the team. After some discussion and debate among the team, we agreed that
it was appropriate to accept Mr Connolly's offer of assistance. We valued Mr
Connolly's experience with the union; particularly, that he had held senior positions in
the other states. Mr Connolly joined the team and ran on the ticket for the election.
32.
Additional funding was organised by Mr Connolly to assist with the campaign which
enabled us to go out and campaign. This resulted in an unprecedented voter turnout
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of 54%, with 75% of voters voting for the team. Throughout the campaign, we had a
lot of support from members and delegates. Some delegates took leave from their
jobs to assist.
33.
Mr Steven Donnolly and Mr Tom Pacey also assisted with the campaign. Mr
Connolly, Mr Donnelly and Mr Pacey managed the organisational side of the
campaign, in consultation with me, which gave me an opportunity to spend the
majority of my time campaigning on the ground in workplaces with delegates and
members.
34.
From about mid-September 2010, I was not involved in the mechanics of the
campaign, in a hands-on way, including its printing, resources or finances. Around
that time, a call centre was set up and people volunteered at it. Mr Donnelly, Mr
Pacey and Mr Connolly set this up.
35.
I understood that the funding provided to assist the NTWT campaign came from a
campaign fund. I now know that the monies came from a fund run by officials of the
national office and TWU of NSW known as the McLean Forum.
Assistant Secretary Position
36.
The idea of having a Branch Assistant Secretary was not a new one. From about
2008, a number of the officials had suggested to Mr Williams that the Branch needed
an Assistant Secretary. There had been situations where Mr Williams had been away,
and there was no chain of command or anyone with authority in his absence.
37.
After winning the election, the Branch Committee of Management (BCOM) resolved
to explore the creation of a Branch Assistant Secretary position. A copy of the
relevant extract of the BCOM minutes, dated 25 January 2011, is attached and
marked "PB1".
38.
In May 2011, Federal Council resolved to take the necessary steps to enable the
creation of Branch Assistant Secretary positions in the Queensland Branch and the
Western Australia Branch.
39.
On 24 May 2011, Mr Connolly delivered a report to BCOM on the May Federal
Council meeting, including the resolution for steps to be taken to enable the creation
of Branch Assistant Secretary positions in the Queensland Branch and the Western
Australia Branch. Mr Connolly's report to BCOM was supplemented by the input of
other Federal Councillors, including myself. BCOM passed a resolution that the
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Federal Council report be received and adopted. A copy of the relevant extract of the
BOOM minutes, dated 24 May 2011, is attached and marked "PB2".
40.
I understand that sometime thereafter, National Office wrote to the Fair Work
Commission and requested that the rule changes be approved for the Assistant
Secretary position. The Rules of the corresponding State union were similarly
amended to make provision for the addition of the Assistant Secretary position.
41.
On 27 September 2011, Mr Michael Kaine, National Assistant Secretary, spoke to
BOOM about the rule changes. BOOM resolved in favour of the proposal and for
steps to be taken to formalise the changes at the following BOOM meeting. A copy of
the relevant extract of the BOOM minutes, dated 27 September 2011, is attached and
marked "PB3".
42.
I understand that the Australian Electoral Commission conducted an election of
BOOM members for the position of Assistant Secretary.
43.
On 29 November 2011, Mr Connolly was elected to the position of Assistant
Secretary by BOOM. A copy of the relevant extract of the BCOM minutes, dated 29
November 2011, is attached and marked "PB4".
44.
Our members were notified of the creation of an Assistant Secretary position and Mr
Connolly's election to that position by an update placed in the first edition of the 2012
journal. A copy of the relevant extract of the journal is attached and marked "PB5".
45.
The position of Branch Assistant Secretary will fall due for election by the general
membership in November 2014.
New Transport Workers' Team Fund
46.
After winning the election in November 2010, other officials and I wanted to ensure
that the union, and associated bodies, had responsible governance and were
transparent.
47.
As such, it was decided to incorporate the Team's fund as an incorporated
association that has meetings and is audited annually in accordance with its
legislative requirements. I am the Secretary of the incorporated association and Scott
Connolly is the Treasury.
48.
The funds in the NTWT Fund are made up of donations by officials and employees on
a voluntary basis. They pay $25 per week, and it is facilitated by pay roll deductions.
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It is not mandatory for employees and official to make contributions. Not all officials
and employees contribute to the Team.
49.
Those who pay into the fund are made aware of the nature and purpose of the fund.
Outside of working hours, contributors to the fund have meetings to give financial
reports of the fund and update contributors of the activities it undertakes.
50.
The incorporated association was set up for future elections. There has been very
little expenditure to date. One fundraising function has been held, a NTWT fundraiser
in May 2014, which was attended by TWU officials and delegates.
Date:
A °I
Peter Biagini
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