News today that three union bosses, Greg Combet, Bill Shorten and Doug Cameron have run into an ethical situation. As trustees of the board of Australian Super, these three men are legally required make decisions that deliver the best return to their members. Guess which current Australian icon Australian Super has around $80 million worth of shares in .... Qantas. Guess which union bosses have been making loud protests against the sale of Qantas due to fears of job losses and contracting out services to overseas operators?
Cameron is already on the record saying that he believes it is his duty as a trustee to consider job losses and debt that Qantas may incur - well maybe if his super fund was going to hold onto the shares. It's definitely his duty as national secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, who represent the Qantas maintenace engineers that could possibly lose their jobs in the future (not that this wasn't the case with an ASX listed Qantas either). Can anyone say conflict of interest!
If I was a member of Australian Super, I'd be asking why the board of trustees had three members who will so obviously have major conflicts of interest when it comes to making decisions that will affect Australian union members, and I'd be asking if the Australian super members would take priority.
The full details are reported in the Australian here....
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