Unions' And Bosses' Lawyers Unite

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Australian Financial Review legal editor Marcus Priest notes that in "what some unionists are calling an unholy alliance," the giant Australian forestry company Gunns is "using industrial tort avenues employers have traditionally used against workers engaged in industrial action" against 20 environmentalists and environmental groups. Gunns' legal team comprises EMA Legal, a law firm that works only for employers, and two "well-known union barristers," Stephen Howells and Mark Irving, who defended the Forestry Division of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union in a case brought by environmentalists several years ago. Gunns legal action is seeking A$6.3 million in damages from the "Gunns 20" activists for damaging its profitability by campaigning against the logging of Tasmania's environmentally important forests.