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Industry superannuation funds: A new kind of mutual
Citation
Mees, B and Paul, A, Industry superannuation funds: A new kind of mutual, Labour History: A Journal of Labour and Social History, 112 pp. 25-43. ISSN 0023-6942 (2017) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2017 Australian Society for the Study of Labour History
DOI: doi:10.5263/labourhistory.112.0025
Abstract
At the time of the founding of the industry superannuation funds, the Australian retirement savings market was dominated by insurance mutuals. In the early 1980s, less than half
the workforce was covered by occupational superannuation and unions saw the insurance
mutuals, created in the nineteenth century, as part of the problem in this widespread market
failure. When establishing industry-wide schemes, union leaders largely eschewed the
language associated with the "old" mutuals that had become key pillars of the established
financial sector. In framing their appeal to members, the trustees and managers of the industry
funds appealed instead to new expressions, such as "all profit to members." Industry funds
also developed a model of 50/50 employer/employee trusteeship or "equal representation"
not as an ideological prescription, but as a pragmatic way of dealing with opposition to
the schemes by employers. The trustees and managers of industry superannuation funds
contrasted rather than associated themselves with the "old mutuals" which, at the time,
were not seen as reflecting the unions’ ideal of an industrial partnership. However, with the
decline and demutualisation of the largest old insurance mutuals in the 1990s, the industry
funds began to appropriate the language of mutualism. This appropriation took place within
the context of a perceived need to maintain a collective identity and purpose in the changing
superannuation marketplace.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | mutuals, superannuation, industry funds |
Research Division: | Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services |
Research Group: | Strategy, management and organisational behaviour |
Research Field: | Organisation and management theory |
Objective Division: | Commercial Services and Tourism |
Objective Group: | Financial services |
Objective Field: | Superannuation and insurance services |
UTAS Author: | Mees, B (Dr Bernard Mees) |
ID Code: | 127319 |
Year Published: | 2017 |
Deposited By: | TSBE |
Deposited On: | 2018-07-20 |
Last Modified: | 2021-07-06 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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