UNION boss Dean Mighell has denied any wrongdoing over the secret tapes affair, saying he quit the ALP to avoid becoming a political pawn.
The Victorian secretary of the Electrical Trades Union resigned from the Labor party today after Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd demanded he quit.
Mr Mighell infuriated the party when secret recordings were released of him bragging to members about obtaining pay rises for workers by threatening strike action.
"As a union official I`ve done nothing wrong,," Mr Mighell said in Melbourne.
"All I`ve done is fight for the very best (pay) increases I can for my members. I`ve done that lawfully.
"It`s pretty clear that I`m being used as a political pawn by the Howard Government to antagonise the ALP and I don`t want to be used in that scenario.
"I think it`s very disappointing that we`ve had our meeting taped ... and now released some time later as part of Howard`s election campaign and quite frankly I don`t want to be involved in that."
"I will resign from the ALP simply to ensure that I`m not used as a lever against a very important issue about getting rid of Work Choices.. Mr Mighell said his position as Victorian secretary of the ETU was not in doubt.
He was unaware of Mr Rudd`s plans to return the ETU`s campaign endorsements but said the union would accept the money back.
At a union meeting last November, Mr Mighell told members in an expletive-riddled address that industry-wide agreements had been used to gain millions of dollars from employers which they did not need to pay.
Mr Mighell apologised if his language had offended anyone but denied comparing taskforce inspectors to paedophiles.
He said he would have modified his language if he knew the meeting was being taped but stood by his comments.
"I apologise if they offended some but if my crime is getting my workers a wage increase and offending the taskforce well then I think they`re going to see a lot of union officials` blood on the floor before this campaign`s over," he said.
"Is robust language at a meeting of construction workers a crime? I don`t think so and I don`t think that anybody thinks that that`s the real issue."
Mr Mighell said he would have liked the opportunity to explain his comments to Mr Rudd and Labor deputy Julia Gillard, saying his remarks in the tapes were taken out of context and should not be used as a judge of character.
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