UFU boss Peter Marshall spent $40K more to use brother’s IT company with members’ funds
Member funds have been used to pay a business owned by the brother of militant union leader Peter Marshall.
Victoria
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Militant union leader Peter Marshall paid a business owned by his brother $116,000 last year for website services — $40,000 more than the previous year.
In a move that has left rank and file members outraged, Mr Marshall used $116,510 of his United Firefighters’ Union members’ funds to pay Quintessential Services to run the union’s website over the 2020-21 financial year.
The union paid the same company $77,196.26 over the 2019-20 financial year for “website” purposes, and just $17,000 in 2018-19.
Mr Marshall’s brother, Warren Marshall is the owner of Quintessential Services.
The payments were revealed in a public disclosure document lodged with the federal government’s Registered Organisations Commission.
The document also describes the nature of the relationship as “business owned by brother of Secretary” with Mr Marshall signing off on the payment.
UFU members questioned the payments.
“The UFU website has very poor functionality,” one member said.
“There is a significant swell of anger amongst members at the arrogance with which the Branch Committee of Management are displaying towards them,” they said.
Over the same period Mr Marshall received a $30,000 pay cut, taking his total earnings from $470,280 to $440,316.
It is understood a $51,000 pay rise the previous year, making him Australia’s highest paid union leader, included backpay for annual increase paid to firefighters under their enterprise agreement.
His pay remains more than 10 times that of the organisation’s president David Hamilton whose remuneration dropped to $42,572 in 2020-21.
Mr Marshall has previously come under fire for his failed bid before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for an extra $1m in superannuation and allegations of bullying.
Opposition emergency services spokesman Brad Battin said union members deserved an explanation about how their money was being spent.
“The United Firefighters Union management need to explain to their members why Peter Marshall’s brother received an extra $40,000 in payment in the previous 12 months at the same time Peter Marshall’s package decreased by $30,000,” he said.
“Is it a coincidence or massive increase in workload? Too many times the UFU management operates in secret with limited governance and Daniel Andrews and Labor are silent when it comes to his mates in the UFU management.”
Mr Marshall could not be reached for comment.
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