AvSuper has appointed an economist nominated by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to complete its board of trustees.

Michael Fisher, an economic research officer with the ACTU, has been appointed to the AvSuper trustee board, David Leggo, chair of the fund, announced in a statement.

Fisher replaced Robert Belzer, a union activist with the Community and Public Sector Union and proponent of computer programming in the late sixties, who passed away in December 2009.

Leggo said Fisher had “extensive public policy experience representing the interests of union members on such matters as pay, health, safety, training and pensions”, and was responsible for much of the ACTU’s response to the Cooper Review.

Fisher was the fourth ACTU-nominated trustee to the AvSuper board, where he joins union peers and four trustees put forward by Airservices Australia, the statement read.