A training fund boss claimed she was sacked because her ties to a transport union were perceived as a liability with a royal commission looming.
Dr Romana Hutchinson was sacked as chief executive of TEACHO - a training fund operated by the Transport Workers' Union - during a meeting with the fund's chairman at Adelaide Airport on March 14, the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption heard on Friday.
In a subsequent letter on March 11 protesting her dismissal, Dr Hutchinson said TEACHO chairman Dr Daryll Hull had "informed me that because of my membership and association with the union it was necessary that my employment be terminated in the best interests of TEACHO".
Dr Hutchison, a TWU branch committee member and holder of senior industry training body roles in South Australia, said the reasons were not "valid ... logical or fair" and demanded reinstatement.
However, the dismissal remained effective and before the commission on Friday, Dr Hull denied telling Dr Hutchinson she was being sacked over concerns about the royal commission.
Dr Hull, who is also a professor teaching logistics at Macquarie University, told the commission Adelaide-based Dr Hutchinson was dismissed because TEACHO's head office was being relocated to Sydney.
The decision was a financial one, Dr Hull said.
The royal commission was "an extra factor ... which just makes it even more challenging for us to deal with TEACHO as an ongoing business trying to build an industry forum".
Dr Hull said the royal commission, which was announced by the Abbott government in March, had no impact.
In a statement to the commission dated June 26, Dr Hutchinson said she had "come to accept" her termination and told the commission the March 11 letter was her best recollection of what Dr Hull had said.
The commission has heard TEACHO received up to $150,000 a year from transport company Toll under an enterprise agreement.
TEACHO operates a safety training accreditation scheme, Bluecard, under which Toll pays for workers who have done government-regulated safety training to be registered with the scheme and issued with a blue licence card.
The TWU hopes to make Bluecard an industry-wide scheme but head of human resources at transport company Linfox, Laurie D'Apice, tendered a statement to the commission saying Linfox did not contribute to TEACHO or Bluecard because it had its own training scheme.
The commission begins inquiries into the Construction, Forestry, Energy and Mining Union in Melbourne on Monday.
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