Former union boss Cesar Melhem has made a bristling appearance before the unions royal commission, saying he never sold workers out and denying accusations his union issued bogus invoices for payments from a construction firm.
Mr Melhem, now a Victorian MP, made his second appearance before the trade unions royal commission on Thursday to be quizzed over events during his time as secretary of the Victorian branch of the Australian Workers' Union.
His appearance coincided with an angry demand from the federal Labor party that the royal commission be shut down over an aborted request for membership records of its Victorian branch.
Mr Melhem clashed with counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar SC, as he defended a 2010 agreement with contractor Cleanevent that paid the AWU $25,000 a year and saved the company $1.5 million in wages.
"I copped a fair bit on this because of your assertion about selling workers out and I tell you, that was the most hurtful thing I faced in this commission. In my 23 years I never sold a worker out," Mr Melhem said.
The commission has heard Cleanevent paid the AWU $25,000 a year as membership fees in a deal not revealed to workers.
Mr Melhem told the commission Cleanevent's low-paid staff would have been even worse off if they had moved to a new industry award that paid higher rates than the deal agreed to by the AWU.
He also rejected Mr Stoljar's suggestion his union sent "bogus" invoices for services to the company that built Melbourne's EastLink motorway project to mask payments to the union.
The royal commission is probing how the AWU received $100,000 plus GST a year for three years from EastLink builder Thiess John Holland.
Invoices presented in evidence record bills for advertising in the union magazine, research into back strain, training and tickets to the union ball, amounting to about $300,000 over three years.
Mr Melhem insisted there had been no agreement struck with Thiess John Holland over the payments.
He was shown a 2007 email from Thiess John Holland executive Julian Rzesniowiecki that concluded: "if we don't reach the agreed sum we can address at end of year".
Mr Melhem said they had discussed a budget of $110,000 for the union to provide services.
"There wasn't an agreement," he said.
Among the services was an invoice for $33,000 of advertising that, the commission heard, did not appear in the Australian Worker magazine.
The money was not recorded as advertising income in the union accounts ledger, the inquiry heard.
"You accept that this is a bogus invoice, don't you?" Mr Stoljar asked.
Mr Melhem replied "No, I don't".
Also on Thursday it was revealed the royal commission had sought, then withdrawn a request for, membership records from the Victorian Labor Party as part of its investigations of Industry 2020, a union fund linked to Mr Melhem.
Opposition workplace spokesman Brendan O'Connor said the information sought included phone numbers, addresses, dates of birth, trade union membership and credit card details of ALP members.
A barrister for the ALP told the commission the request was outside its terms of reference.
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