Firefighters union boss paid $494,000

United Firefighter Union secretary Peter Marshall got a 5 per cent pay rise last financial year, more than double the amount paid to most national union leaders.

United Firefighters Union chief Peter Marshall was paid $494,000 last financial year. Picture: AAP

Australia’s highest-paid union leader, United Firefighter Union secretary Peter Marshall, received $494,219 last financial year, a 5 per cent annual pay rise and more than double the amount paid to most national union leaders.

Documents filed with the federal government’s Registered Organisations Commission show Mr Marshall was paid a $440,316 salary as the union’s Victorian secretary plus $5405 for a car and income protection insurance.

However, in a separate filing, documents show Mr Marshall was paid an additional $48,498 as national secretary. His annual remuneration was $419,697 in 2019, increasing to $470,000 in 2020, and nearing $500,000 in 2021.

Mr Marshall, who declined to comment to The Australian on Monday, has held the positions of national and Victorian secretary since 2002 and has been paid for both jobs for 20 years. His salary package is substantially higher than other national union representatives, including the ACTU leadership.

Over the past two years, when The Australian has reported on salary declarations to the commission, Mr Marshall has refused to publicly explain why his salary is so much higher than other union leaders, including those who represent more members.

According to the latest annual salary disclosures made to the commission by employer and union representatives, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra received $505,000 last financial year, which is believed to be the top declared remuneration for a business lobbyist.

However, many employer­ organisations are not ­required to declare remuneration of senior employees to the commissi­on, and several chief executives for national ­employer organisations are understood to earn significantly more than Mr Guerra.

Many of the union officials earning more than $200,000 a year worked for the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union, including its NSW construction division secretary, Darren Greenfield, who was paid $254,185.

Mr Greenfield’s two deputies, Rob Kera and Michael Greenfield, earned more than $240,000 each, while state president Rita Mallia was paid about $233,000, with an extra $116000 paid to the union for work she did on boards and committees.

CFMEU construction division national secretary Dave Noonan was paid $240,854, while two assistant national secretaries, Nigel Davies and Andrew Sutherland, were paid $220,801 and $238, 654 respectively.

According to the disclosures, the CFMEU”s controversial Victorian construction division secretary John Setka was paid $229,468 plus a car, which was valued as a $18,994 “non-cash benefit”.

United Workers Union national secretary Tim Kennedy received $230,353 and Finance Sector Union national secretary Julia Angrisano was paid $233,374.

Meanwhile, the Australian Building and Construction Commission launched fresh court action against seven employees of builder Hutchinson, accusing them of engaging in unlawful industrial action when they walked off the job at the Queen Street Village in Southport in 2021.

The workers met with a CFMEU official in the main lunchroom. Following the meeting, the employees left the project and failed to return.