The Australian Workers' Union could be hit with court-ordered penalties for allegedly inflating its membership numbers by failing to remove those who had not paid their fees.
On Thursday, the federal government's Registered Organisations Commission hit the AWU with its lawsuit in the Federal Court.
The ROC contends the union failed to keep an accurate register including the number of members it had, details such as names and addresses, and whether or not they had paid their fees.
Membership for state branches was also higher than it should have been because individuals who had not paid their union fees were not purged from the register, the commission said.
At the Queensland branch, almost 14,000 members were claimed to have been listed who had failed to pay their dues for over 24 months.
The ROC is seeking declarations that the union broke the law and penalties which, if ordered, would be paid to the Commonwealth.
From December 31, 2009 to December 31, 2014, the AWU's national office falsely claimed in its yearly reports that its membership was the same on June 30 and December 31 despite numbers fluctuating during that time, the commission claimed.
The union's national office allegedly did not keep an independent record of membership numbers but rather relied on information collected from individual branches.
"Despite demand by the Commissioner, the AWU has been unable to produce or identify an accurate or comprehensive record of the state of its register of members as at 31 December for each year from 2009 to 2017," the ROC said.
About 7000 members are alleged to have had incomplete details in the union's Queensland, South Australian and Greater NSW branches.
The AWU has been contacted for comment.
