- Union Governance Training -

Session 1.2Conflicts of interest

UNION GOVERNANCE TRAININGSession One: Conflicts of interest

Governance

• Unions exist to advance the interests of their members and of working people as a whole through collective organisation and action.

• Governance is the means by which the union is run to ensure that members’ funds and resources are used only to advance the interests of members and are protected from dishonesty, misapplication and wasteful or inefficient use.

UNION GOVERNANCE TRAININGSession One: Conflicts of interest

Conflict of interest

• Union officers and employees should act and be seen to act in the best interests of their union at all times.

• A conflict of interest arises when there is a perceived, actual or potential conflict between an officer or employee’s private or personal interests (or those of a relative) and the interests of the union; that is, where their private or personal interests could improperly influence the performance of their duties.

UNION GOVERNANCE TRAININGSession One: Conflicts of interest

Conflict of interest

• Actual conflict of interest: real conflict between an officer’s duty to the union and union responsibilities, and their private interests.

• Potential conflict of interest: private interests that could conflict with duty to the union

• Perceived conflict of interest: where a third party could form the view that private interests could improperly influence the performance of duties to the union, now or in the future.

UNION GOVERNANCE TRAININGSession One: Conflicts of interest

Conflict of interest

• The legislative requirement is for officers’ to disclose material personal interest involving the organisation’s financial management or procurement activities.

• Conflicts of interest should always be disclosed.• Ordinarily, once declared, the person would not

participate in decisions affected by a conflict of interest (eg, not sit on the selection panel for a position a family member is applying for, or not take part in a procurement decision where a family company has submitted a tender).