Crony unionism, coming soon to a tunnel near you

The reason the public sector is more prone to unionism is because all you need to do is get your own candidates elected and then you can legislate whatever pay and conditions you like. The payback is enormous.

For the average Joe on the street there's no value in union membership because in most industries you can't capture your employer and force them to give you what you want. People aren't buying because there's no value in it and if unionised workers did provide better value for money to employers, they'd be hiring them hand over fist and workers would be scrambling to join unions at every turn. The factual evidence on the ground shows this is clearly not the case.

There is value in it however, if you can either control the employer (public sector unions, CFMEU, etc.) or the industry is a capital intensive, limited location operation such as ports or large construction sites. You don't see much militant union stoppages in coffee shops (no picket line outside your local barista today?), supermarkets or house construction sites. This is because there are so many of them, the capital input is low and there are hundreds of alternatives if one isn't available. A subway tunnel under a CBD is a different proposition altogether. When you see someone digging in the ground, millions of dollars have already been spent and by the time the structural components are in place, the capital expenditure is enormous. If you can shut that down as the CFMEU is able to do, you can cost the builder a fortune. Now put yourself in the place of the builder, knowing that the union demanding higher wages and conditions is also the organisation that controls the government, exactly how many options do you think you have?

It's just easier to pay up the extortion money and live with the lawless environment.

You'll be seeing a lot more of this is 2018 and beyond, especially if Bill Shorten becomes Prime Minister and the nation's media doesn't step up its game and start hammering Labor governments over this type of disgraceful behaviour. Our media really is an important lynchpin on this issue. If they don't stop cozying up to Labor because they love their social policies, and do their job of exposing this taxpayer rort, we will continue our descent into banana republic territory.

The cost of construction projects will continue to rise, more funds will flow to unions that only represent themselves, donations will continue to flow to Labor and enable them to tighten their grip on power. The unions win and you pay.

As I wrote previously here, the Labor treasurer in the previous Parliament, Curtis Pitt, approved a dodgy deal for his railway union mates and misled Parliament over it, and is now set to become the new Speaker. So much for a government of integrity.

We wait here in the Sunshine State to see how many more clouds need to gather over our heads before the people will say "enough Crony Unionism!"

The smoke is there and we need to expose the fire.

Update:

For those who are interested in learning more about union funding, I highly recommend reading a report from the Institute of Public Affairs, Rivers of Gold: How the Trade Union Movement is Funded by Industry Super. In the report you will read that between 2013-14 and 2016-17, $18.5 million has flowed from industry superannuation funds, via directors fees to trade unions.

I also recommend reading a report from the Centre for Union Facts in the USA that tracks and documents the activities of unions. The report is particularly enlightening as it shows that Labour Unions have given $1.1 billion dollars to left wing causes between 2010 and 2016, without prior approval of members and almost always favour the Democratic Party. You will see parallels to the Australian situation as you read through.