He was the union leader for the train drivers union in NSW when Neville Wran was Premier.
He was always leading the train drivers who obviously stood together on all sorts of strikes and stoppage.
Wran decided that he had had enough and and cleaned them up. Bernie was never heard of again and nor was their union.
Maybe that is where Hawke took his lead from in 1989?
Maybe also Joyce in 2011? Don’t hear much of Steve and the AALEA or Sheldon and the TWU these days. They got cleaned up too.