Two unions sponsoring the fund, the United Services Union (USU) and the Department and Environmental Professionals’ Union (DEPA), slammed the merger plan as “dishonest” and a “super hijack” while demanding that Powis step down because he did not satisfactorily manage the conflicts of interest in his role as head of EISS and FuturePlus. In a letter to DEPA members, the union’s chair union and trustee of LGSS, Ian Robertson, said the merger plan was revealed on December 9 when Mark Lennon, secretary of Unions NSW, asked a Treasury official “whether anything was happening about this issue”, while a senior USU source said they received a phone call “from someone on the Energy side” alerting them to the plan.

“We got a phone call to indicate that some time in the next 48 hours the governor was going to be called upon to sign the trust deed for amalgamation of both schemes,” the source said. According to the USU, it intervened to secure a commitment from treasury that no merger would occur until both funds had assessed the plan and agreed upon it. In a petition to members, the USU has called for Powis’ resignation, and for both funds to commission an independent assessment of the benefits of a merger and that a plebiscite about the plan for all members be held. It has not ruled out widespread industrial action if these demands are not met.