mber of the AWU-associated group within the Labor right - rejects the theory as ''over-the-top nonsense''.
For Thiess' spend-it-big and union-friendly approach to work, there needed to be genuine goodwill between the builder, unions and the workforce.
Mighell and other unions say there was - at first. ''I gave my word to the premier of Victoria [John Brumby] that we'd get it done.''
But the risks taken on by the builder led to another costly mistake, where the money flowed with little oversight.
In early 2010, senior Thiess executives secretly funnelled more than $500,000 to strike-breaker Bruce Townsend for eight weeks' work before the arrangement was abruptly terminated.
In November 2010, The Australian reported details of the deal and that Townsend had been engaged to infiltrate the workforce. The news sparked a walk-off - the first of a series of strikes over the next seven months.
It also led to the departure of project director Greg Miller and senior executive Marcus Carroll, neither of whom have ever commented on the agreement. One theory is that, having signed such a generous union deal, management panicked and felt they needed a back-up plan if things went horribly wrong. Yet the Townsend affair, while dramatic, was just one of a number of missteps.
Thiess launched - and just settled - a large legal case against the CFMEU for unlawful strikes and has lodged claims with the Baillieu government for the ''cyclonic weather'' and labour problems on site.
No expense has been spared in litigating in the hope that some of the huge losses will be retrieved. Whatever the outcome, the builders are unlikely to come out ahead - unlike the lawyers and workers on the project.
But while the big left-wing unions got their way at Wonthaggi, in the long run they may not be so lucky, with revived right-wing foes using Red Wonthaggi to overturn and crush the union gains.
Ben Schneiders is workplace editor. Royce Millar is an investigative reporter.