FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano
The latest round of enterprise negotiations between the Finance Sector Union and the country’s largest superannuation fund, AustralianSuper is highlighting an awkward conflict of interest involving the Finance Sector Union’s national secretary, Julia Angrisano.
In the last month industrial tensions between the parties have intensified, with the union accusing AustralianSuper of “holding staff pay increases to ransom”.
The union is agitating for the company to improve its 4.5 per cent pay offer to above 5 per cent.
AusSuper’s pay offer is also conditional on the union agreeing to give up several work entitlements negotiated in previous agreements, including the right to trial periods for redundant staff who are transferred to new roles with lower pay.
In a bargaining update authorised by Angrisano that was sent to FSU members on 31 July, the conditional pay offer was described as “outrageous” and a “disgrace”.
“AustralianSuper is holding your pay increase to ransom,” the union told AusSuper members.
“The only way to get a pay increase is if we agree to give up important entitlements.
“This is not fair.
“We deserve a fair pay increase, and we deserve to keep our existing entitlements – it’s a disgrace for the Fund to tell us we only get a pay increase by trading away conditions.
“AustralianSuper will only get away with this outrageous offer if we all vote in favour of it.”
While strong language such as this is not unusual at critical moments in enterprise negotiations in the finance industry, it nevertheless underlines an awkward circumstance for Angrisano.
The FSU boss has been a director of the AusSuper board since August 2017.
This creates a conflict of interest for Angrisano that is most prone to crystallise when the industry union that she leads is engaged in testy enterprise negotiations with the company she has served for six years.
The conflict is given sharper relief by other statements in the 31 July update authorised by Angrisano, which addressed the performance of AusSuper’s senior management.
“We have the power here – remember the only way that AustralianSuper’s proposals will form part our new enterprise agreement is if a majority of us vote for it,” the union told AusSuper staff in the update.
“And if AustralianSuper management wants our support, it needs to do better.”
In response to questions emailed to Angrisano by Banking Day on Tuesday, an FSU spokesperson said the conflict had always been managed since the union leader joined the AusSuper board six years ago.
“The National Secretary is managing this conflict of interest by recusing herself from any board deliberations on the new agreement and playing no part in any of the negotiations,” the FSU spokesperson said.
“The negotiations are run by FSU staff on behalf of its members.
“The National Secretary appears on all written collateral to members as a matter of course.”
In 2022, Angrisano earned cash fees and super payments worth A$93,550 for her role at the fund – a marked improvement on her 2021 remuneration of $64,068.
She is also a member of the risk and compliance sub-committee of the board, which oversees AusSuper’s governance framework, including policies governing conflict management within the organisation.