Fight profit shifting, ACTU tells industry funds
Union appointed industry super fund trustees should use their board influence to treat profit shifting by multi-national companies as a corporate governance issue and also promote infrastructure investment, delegates at the 2015 ACTU Congress were told yesterday.
Emma Maiden, deputy assistant secretary of Unions NSW, told an estimated 800 union delegates at the Australian Council of Trade Unions annual conference in Melbourne that super funds should weigh into the issue of multi-national profit shifting and use their influence as institutional investors to bring about change.
A presentation slide Maiden showed to the conference stated: “[The ACTU] Congress notes this is a significant corporate governance issue and calls on union directors of super funds to exercise their rights as part owners of these companies to ensure such companies adopt ethical and moral practices as well as legal ones in the payment of their tax”.
Given the heavy influence super fund trustees have, the call for action by the ACTU is expected to be taken seriously especially as 15 of the 23 conference sponsors were major industry superannuation funds, associations or affiliated companies.
In the same presentation, delegates were told that “a remodeling of Infrastructure Australia as Australia’s clearing house for attracting international pension fund investment in Australian economic and social infrastructure” creates major opportunities for Australian super funds.
Not-for-profit industry super funds seeking long term debt investments that provide social as well as financial benefits should be actively involved in the sector, delegates were told.
