Donald McGauchie's two hats: one must come off

Wendy Keogh and Leigh Hubbard entering the Telstra AGM

Clutching yellow flowers and placards, unionists and members of asbestos support groups yesterday gathered at the Melbourne Convention to remember the many victims of this fatal fibre and call on Telstra chair Donald McGauchie to resign. In a letter handed to shareholders as they were going into Telstra's annual general meeting, Leigh Hubbard, secretary of the VTHC, wrote 'Donald McGauchie, as a board member of James Hardie, should be looking after the workers of Telstra and ensuring they have access to compensation, not providing $9million golden handshakes to disgraced executives. When he votes on the James Hardie board, whose interests does he have in mind - the Telstra workers whom he represents or the profits of James Hardie?'

The protesters heard from a number of people, including Wendy Keogh, widow of Telstra worker Ron Keogh. Wendy, from Paynesville in country Victoria, said 'James Hardie knew in the 1930's that asbestos kills; my husband was born after that, yet he got mesothelioma. Ron gave Telstra 37 years of loyal service; he died a terrible death that I would not wish upon my worst enemy. There are many other workers like Ron, and the effect on families is devastating.' She added, 'Telstra needs to take responsibility for its actions and Donald McGauche should do the right thing and resign. We have to make James Hardie pay.'

Sharan Burrow, ACTU President, said that many international unions were supporting us in our fight to make James Hardie pay. 'We are going to send a clear message around the world, and we are going to let everyone know what Telstra is doing. Donald McGauchie should resign. The multi-million dollar payment to James Hardie ex-CEO Peter McDonald should immediately be paid over to the victims, it is the only decent thing to do, particularly in the light of the recent news that the foundation is quickly running out of compensation funds,' she said.

Len Cooper, secretary of the state branch of the CEPU Telecommunications and Services Branch, who was standing for the Telstra board, told the gathering 'Donald McGauchie has a clear conflict of interest. On the one hand he is on the James Hardie board, and on the other, he is the chairman of a company that has used and largely still uses James Hardie products that have detrimentally affected the health and lives of dozens of Telstra workers over the years. He must resign.'

Wendy Keogh, Leigh Hubbard, Sharan Burrow and Len Cooper then joined the shareholders at the AGM to put questions to the board on the James Hardie issue. When questioned, Donald McGauchie said, 'It would have been very easy for me to walk away from James Hardie Industries when I became chairman of Telstra but I thought I could make a contribution to a fair and reasonable outcome.' To whom? Certainly Messers Peter Macdonald and Peter Shafron got a very 'fair and reasonable outcome' - but what about the victims?