Two Australian men who worked for the Western Australian branch of the National Union of Workers (NUW) have been fired after being linked to a fake Black Lives Matter Facebook page that solicited over $100,000 in donations.
National secretary for the NUW Tim Kennedy confirmed the terminations in a statement on Wednesday afternoon. Kennedy said the reports of a "sham" Black Lives Matter Facebook page and website had "deeply distressed and appalled" the NUW.
"The NUW has launched an investigation into claims made by a CNN report and has terminated the officials concerned," he said.
"The NUW is not involved in and has not authorised any activities with reference to claims made in CNN's story.
"The claims made in the report, and subsequent reports, betray the values of the NUW and are abhorrent to all the hardworking NUW officials and members who are tarnished by these claims.
"Further, our values of respect, dignity and equality define us. Every day, we represent workers organising collectively and struggling for a fair go.
"We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and grassroots activist organisations nationally and internationally."
A story published on Monday by CNN alleged Ian Mackay, a branch vice-president with the NUW, was linked to the page. The Facebook page had almost 700,000 followers – twice that of the official Black Lives Matter page – before it was suspended by Facebook, and directed followers to multiple fundraising campaigns on crowdfunding sites including Patreon, Paypal and Donorbox.
At least some of the more than $100,000 in donations the page generated were deposited into Australian bank accounts. The union is confident none of these funds were mixed with its own funds.
Records of domains that were at one point registered by Mackay using his union email address show hundreds of domain addresses that referenced Donald Trump, Australian online banking corporations, sexual acts, and Black Lives Matter.