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ONE GRAND ON THE LINE

Reader Andrew Richards is in a dilly of a pickle:

Do I pay up or not?

I challenged Labor: “I will give $1000 to charity if the ALP nominates as the candidate to replace Latham someone who is not a union official and/or a teacher and/or a political functionary and/or a lawyer.�

And now (perhaps hoping to avoid the headline “ALP deprives Salvation Army of $1000�) they have nominated Mr. Hayes, who is a former assistant national secretary of the Australian Workers Union.

I suppose I could get all legal about it and ask if he is still a paid-up member of the AWU. Would that would settle matters? What do your in-house ethicists think?

Over to you, ethicists!

Posted by Tim B. on 02/04/2005 at 08:58 AM
  1. It’s simple.  Would you, if you had cynically predicted : one thing we know is that the nominee will be a union official, a teacher or a political functionary - would you have claimed to have been right?

    If so, you don’t pay up.  If not, you do.  My own inclination is that it’s a successful prediction; that is, it makes its point and scores.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2005 02 04 at 10:17 AM • permalink

  2. Show them you’re the more ethical man, Andrew.  Write the check despite the fact he’s a union guy.

    Posted by Tex Lovera on 2005 02 04 at 10:17 AM • permalink

  3. Your money is safe - as you knew, hipocrisy in the ALP saved you.

    Posted by Louis on 2005 02 04 at 10:33 AM • permalink

  4. Send the check to me, Andrew.  I’m not a charity, so that’ll leave you in the clear.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2005 02 04 at 10:41 AM • permalink

  5. Once a union member always a union member.  There is not cure or treatment, so send a check to bona fide charity if you can fine one.

    When things like this come up, I always give to the local humane society (animal shelter) which is run largely by local residents, so I know whatever they get, goes to taking care of stray animals and not to administrative costs.

    Posted by blerp on 2005 02 04 at 11:17 AM • permalink

  6. Has the swine ever held any other job or position?  If not, I’d say you’re in the clear.

    If your concience bothers you, make a $500 donation to reflect his “former” status.

    Posted by richard mcenroe on 2005 02 04 at 11:21 AM • permalink

  7. Do leopards change their spots? Come On!

    Posted by crash on 2005 02 04 at 11:26 AM • permalink

  8. Well, according to the Herald Sun:

    After finishing school, he worked at the Sydney Water Board before entering union work in 1978, firstly for the Public Service Professional Officers Association of NSW and later for the AWU.

    He worked as a senior adviser for the Police Federation of Australia and New Zealand before starting his own business in mediation.

    and his official ALP bio page shows

    Diploma in Labour Relations and Law (Sydney University)

    IMO, your $1000 is safe.

    Posted by Old Grouch on 2005 02 04 at 12:27 PM • permalink

  9. A unionista AND a lawyer?  Oy vey - he wasn’t just drinking the Kool-Aid, he was brewing it for distribution.  IMO, the ALP owes YOU a grand.

    Posted by Distrudeaupia on 2005 02 04 at 12:32 PM • permalink

  10. Unless he when he left publicly apologized (repented is probably a better word!) for having been a union man, your money are safe.

    Posted by jorgen on 2005 02 04 at 12:42 PM • permalink

  11. Your challenge did not include “former” union officials.  If he was not a union official at the time of his nomination, you are stuck.  Even if he is a paying member of the union at present, that would not make him an officer.

    You are correct much of the time, but you are not infallible.  Pick a good charity and pay up in good humor.

    Posted by Mystery Meat on 2005 02 04 at 12:52 PM • permalink

  12. Unless Mr. Hayes can produce evidence he successfully completed the 12-step program to cure him of his union addiction (the crack cocaine of government employees) keep your money.

    But if my fellow ethicists convince you differently, might I suggest giving your money to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Arty). I know those guys, they’re a fine outfit and I can almost guarantee your money won’t be diddled away on a pub-crawl, table dancing and cab fare.

    Posted by Arty on 2005 02 04 at 02:04 PM • permalink

  13. Send $500 and tell whoever gets it the other $500 is the amount of tax they’d have to pay if the ALP takes control.

    Posted by Gary from Jersey on 2005 02 04 at 02:23 PM • permalink

  14. I think ex-union official is near enough. That’s how he got the nomination, not just by being a local good guy. Didn’t Peter Garrett have to go out and join a union before he was able to stand?

    Posted by blogstrop on 2005 02 04 at 04:47 PM • permalink

  15. The <a href=“http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,12149734-421,00.html”>Daily Telegraph quotes “unnamed sources” (possibly the Allawi shooting witness) to say that the Libs aren’t going to run in Werriwa.

    Posted by Quentin George on 2005 02 04 at 05:55 PM • permalink

  16. Oops…

    here’s the link

    Posted by Quentin George on 2005 02 04 at 05:56 PM • permalink

  17. RM beat me to it, but did he ever have a real job?

    Posted by jlc on 2005 02 04 at 06:24 PM • permalink

  18. OK lets face it for 21 of the last 26 years he has been a union official; over the last 5 years he has been a “consultant’ or a ‘mediator’ ‘business advisor’ … so what does that mean?? It means he has been employed by businesses who don’t know what the f*ck to do about some union /personell problem they have so they employ a Mr FixIt with a union background to ring up a few mates and smooth things over , all for a fee of a few thou each time. Am I wrong?
    In which case he is a unionist and the ALP’s Claytons Small Businessman (“The small businessman you have when you don’t have a small businessman� for those who have forgotten their cultural references)

    Posted by arnienelly on 2005 02 04 at 06:34 PM • permalink

  19. Go ahead and send him the check, but write it out on a check from a bank you are a former patron of.

    Posted by Merat on 2005 02 04 at 07:23 PM • permalink

  20. Note from his web site

    “Major Advisory/mediation roles:
        Work has included private mediation in the areas of Sydney Airport, National Crime Authority, printing industry and health and aged care sector.
        Was appointed mediator of disputes at Sydney Airport for the six month period preceding and including the Olympic Games. This period successfully passed without major industrial dramas.
    Retained as an advisor to the Police Federation of Australia�

    Game set and match to the “he-is-still-a-unionist� school of thought
    Also I wonder about his role in the Sydney Games
    “This period successfully passed without major industrial dramas.� Well he would say that wouldn’t he?
    I wonder if any “that-bastard-is-no-small-businessman-He-made-me-pay-four-times-the-award-rate-to-his-unionist-mates-to-get-the-job-finished-on-time� stories around

    Posted by arnienelly on 2005 02 04 at 08:04 PM • permalink

  21. Merat beat me to it- I was going to suggest sending monopoly money.

    Posted by grizz on 2005 02 04 at 10:39 PM • permalink

  22. The independent consultant thing is real pseudo. Makes it looks like he’s done a real job on the resume. You see this sort of stuff all the time in Canberra.

    Don’t know about the semantics, but as far as I’m concerned the prediction was spot-on. Another apparatchik.

    Posted by Henry boy on 2005 02 04 at 10:51 PM • permalink

  23. Keep the money . . . “mediators” are just ex-union and ALP hacks who go into protection racketeering. A mate of mine regularly “did business” with John Halfpenny when he retired from Trades Hall and became a “mediator”. Cost of getting things done.

    Posted by steve68 on 2005 02 05 at 12:17 AM • permalink

  24. Sigh. I’m not fixing this shit anymore. You guys have got to learn.

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2005 02 05 at 02:40 AM • permalink

  25. He is a parasitic union hack like most of the ALP but he is former official so pay $500.

    Posted by Astonished on 2005 02 05 at 04:05 AM • permalink

  26. haha I think the responses here show why the question wasn’t even worth asking. but what would you expect the Labor party isn’t going to give a safe seat to anyone other than a hack.

    Posted by Ben on 2005 02 06 at 09:22 PM • permalink

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