Major changes were made in Australia's union movement after the president of the scandal-rocked Health Services Union (HSU) resigned on Wednesday. To make his departure from the union more dramatic, HSU President Michael Williamson quit via a text message.

Another major HSU official, National Secretary Kathy Jackson, is expected to also resign from her post within week. Ms Jackson was the whistleblower on her predecessor, embattled MP Craig Thomson.

Although Mr Williamson was stood aside in September, the last straw for him was the leak of a report by lawyer Ian Temby which found HSU officials involved in anomalous transactions including millions of dollars worth of dubious payments to suppliers sans tenders or contracts.

Mr Williamson's resignation, which was sent via short messaging service to a senior HSU official, brings to mind the firing of former Yahoo! Chief Executive Officer Carol Bartz in 2011 via e-mail. The axing even of company executives indicates the new role of new forms of communication technology in the hiring and firing of people.

Acting HSU President Chris Brown received Mr Williamson's text message. HSU had actually approved a motion seeking the union president's resignation due to the damage he caused HSU. Mr Brown endorsed the resignation of Mr Williamson at the board meeting on Wednesday.

"What has changed now is we now have an independent objective report - the Temby report - which clearly show there were problems with financial management of the East branch for which he (Mr Williamson) was responsible," AAP quoted Mr Brown.

The 90-member HSU National Council will fill up Mr Williamson's post by holding an election within the next six weeks. Among the 90 members who will vote is HSU East branch Administrator Michael Moore, who was appointed by the Federal Court which earlier froze the account of the branch due to anomalies.

Ms Jackson, in a hint of her career action, bought a home in Sydney and plans to move there after she resigns from her post soon, reports said. She proposed that the HSU election be overseen by the Australian Electoral Commission because of alleged power grab attempts among officials of HSU.

"They are behaving like vultures, saying 'Let's get as much out of this dead carcass while it last,'" The Australian quoted Ms Jackson.

The 59-year-old Mr Williamson was general secretary for over 15 years of HSU East, the biggest branch of the union which counts 70,000 members. He also stepped aside from his roles in the East branch and Australian Labor Party in 2011 after the New South Wales police initiated investigation on the HSU anomalies.

Mr Thomson, meanwhile, maintained he is innocent of the charges against him and was partly vindicated when a former prostitute he allegedly hired retracted her previous statement that the embattled MP was her former client. Mr Temby did not mention Mr Thomson in his report, except that the now-independent MP was a protégé of the just-resigned HSU president.

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