A former executive of glassmaker ACI has told the trade union royal commission he took former Australian Workers' Union boss Cesar Melhem on a $130,000 overseas trip, and agreed to training payments of almost $500,000 to maintain "a good relationship" with the union.
Michael Gilhome, former employee relations manager for ACI, revealed he took Mr Melhem on an all-expenses-paid trip to the United States, Europe and Lebanon in the mid-2000s.
Mr Melhem was assistant secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers' Union from 2001 to 2005, while federal Labor leader Bill Shorten was state secretary.
Mr Melhem is now a member of the Victorian parliament.
A day after the commission heard ACI paid $160,000 a year to the AWU between 2003 and 2005 as the company underwent an overhaul and negotiated a new enterprise agreement, Mr Gilhome was questioned about his trip with Mr Melhem.
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He told the commission on Thursday he took Mr Melhem on the trip of two weeks or more to inspect an ACI-owned glass plant in the US.
The pair then travelled to Europe and Lebanon, where Mr Melhem was born.
The court heard there were no glass plants in Lebanon and counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar SC, asked what they had been doing there.
"Well, we weren't doing anything in particular," Mr Gilhome said.
"He was just having a look at Lebanon on the way back home. This is where he came from."
Mr Gilhome said he did not know the final cost of the trip was more than $130,000 but told the court the trip was authorised by the then chief executive of ACI, Peter Robinson.
He denied a suggestion from Mr Robinson's barrister that he was "carpeted" when he submitted his expenses after the journey.
Mr Gilhome also told the commission Mr Robinson had known about the payments of $160,000 a year to the AWU - contrary to Mr Robinson's denials in the stand.
Mr Gilhome agreed with Mr Stoljar that the payments were to maintain "a close and cooperative and good working relationship" with Mr Melhem and the AWU.
"We always had a good relationship, I've never denied that," he said.
Mr Stoljar asked: "And you also facilitated that through overseas trips of the kind that you've outlined?"
Mr Gilhome replied: "You could say that, yes."
