Former union representative Paul Tzimas told the inquiry that underworld mediator Mick Gatto stepped in to resolve tensions after an assault left two officials severely injured. Tzimas revealed he subsequently accepted a gold bracelet from Gatto as an olive branch following the incident. The hearings also established extensive overlap between union membership and outlaw motorcycle gangs, alongside interventions to support a convicted individual's parole. Furthermore, testimony detailed how union officials halted a major rail project until specific allied contractors were engaged.
Key points
Underworld figures were actively utilized to mediate conflicts between commercial develop…: Underworld figures were actively utilized to mediate conflicts between commercial developers and construction union representatives.
Significant overlaps exist between union membership and outlaw motorcycle gang networks a…: Significant overlaps exist between union membership and outlaw motorcycle gang networks across Victoria's infrastructure sector.
Union leadership enforced specific staffing and contractor demands before permitting dela…: Union leadership enforced specific staffing and contractor demands before permitting delayed public infrastructure works to resume.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
A former union official has told a royal commission that underworld figure Mick Gatto attended a meeting that was called after the official and a colleague were seriously assaulted at a construction site.
Paul Tzimas is the first witness associated with the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union to appear before the royal commission into the integrity of major public and civil infrastructure construction projects in Victoria.
Tzimas told the commission on Wednesday that he received a fractured ankle and a colleague was left with a broken eye socket, damage to his teeth, severe PTSD and the partial loss of his vision after they were assaulted by people linked to the builders and developers at a construction site.
No other details were given about where and when the assault occurred, but Tzimas agreed that he believed the people who assaulted him may have been linked to an outlaw bikie gang.
Tzimas, a former CFMEU official who left the union in January and is currently unemployed, told the commission that about a week after the assault a meeting was called between…
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