The board of the superannuation fund  has spots for two union reps. It can pick them from whatever eligible union it likes

The CPSU, (which represents way fewer university staff) than the NTEU went to court asking for a ruling that each union can only make one nomination for a seat on UniSuper’s board.

The CPSU is unhappy it lost a board seat in February when its appointee resigned. The UniSuper board filled the position with an NTEU representative so that it now holds both places reserved for union people. NTEU board members are Grahame McCullough, (former general secretary) and Sarah Roberts (Victorian assistant secretary).

Back in August the CPSU nominated official Blake Stephens for one of the union seats, to be filled at the fund’s AGM next month.

The CPSU case for a board seat of its own is based on industrial relations practices and negotiations when UniSuper was created from old industry funds.

But on Tuesday Justice Delany of the Victorian Supreme Court said nothing doing, that UniSuper’s constitution allows eligible unions to nominate as many people as they wish.

“There is nothing in the context of the constitution itself that supports a restriction on the number of nominations that might be made by an eligible union or unions.”

Justice Delany also found that to be eligible for a board position, a union must be national and have a “significant number” of members in UniSuper but the CPSU, “fails as a matter of fact to qualify” on both counts.