Former union boss Paul Howes says he cannot remember signing off on a deal that left low-paid cleaners out of pocket while saving their company more than a million dollars and inflating union membership figures, the unions royal commission has heard.
"The signature on behalf of the union is mine," the former Australian Workers' Union national secretary said in a statement tendered in evidence to the commission on Tuesday.
"But I do not recall the circumstances in which I signed the (memorandum of understanding)."
The MoU relates to a side deal between the AWU and cleaning company Cleanevent in which the union pocketed $25,000 a year in membership fees from the company, while casual cleaners were kept on lower rates of pay as the company saved $1.5 million in salary costs.
"Neither before nor at the time of signing the MoU was I aware that the AWU Victorian branch had negotiated a side agreement with Cleanevent to receive payments," Mr Howes said.
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Mr Howes claimed to be in the dark about the deal until it was exposed in past royal commission hearings.
Most agreements were signed unless there were major concerns among the union's branches, he said.
The royal commission heard on Tuesday the side deal did not raise significant alarm within the union, with few concerns about wages for casual cleaners stagnating and workers being signed up as union members without their knowledge.
Witness John-Paul Blandthorn, a former AWU organiser and now a staff member for Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, told the commission the payment sought from Cleanevent was justified as a service fee for union representation.
"The service fee was for the large amount of work that was being done for people who were not members of the Australian Workers' Union," Mr Blandthorn said.
Queensland AWU official Tom Jeffers told the hearing he could not recall events following an email exchange with then-AWU Victorian state secretary Cesar Melhem in which he voiced his suspicion of the deal.
"You sent your email where you raised a few matters and you've set out what they were?" said Jeremy Stoljar SC, counsel assisting the commission.
"What happened after that, that you can remember?"
Mr Jeffers replied: "That's all that happened. That's all I have got."
"That's all you've got?" Mr Stoljar asked.
"Yes."
Industrial director with the union's Victorian branch, Craig Winter, rejected claims that workers were worse off under the agreement.
