A month before Victorians decide whether to grant a fourth consecutive term to a government that has rarely been seen in the state's history, two of the old allies of Labor have begun to walk away from it. The quarrel is an old one in democratic life: a promise made, a promise withdrawn, and the people who depend on the promise left to decide where their loyalty now lies. The Australian Services Union, angered over council rate caps that it says limit wages for council workers, is attacking Premier Ben Carroll directly in advertising, while the Electrical Trades Union, shaken by the constructi
Two Victorian unions turn on Labor a month out from election, with ASU attack ads and ETU pulling campaign funds
Workers can't show up for him this November
Mark
Two unions, two different kinds of break. Why does that matter a month out?
Mimi
Unions supply money and doorknockers. The ETU spent more than $1.6m for Labor in 2022, and this time it's spending nothing on the campaign. The ASU is withholding doorknocking and running ads against the premier.
Luke
Worth noting the ETU's own polling is the stated reason: 25 seats, 10 fewer than before the July spill. That's one union's commissioned poll, and we haven't seen its methodology.
Mark
And the ASU's grievance is narrower?
Mimi
Yes, council rate caps. They say Allan agreed to lift the cap and Carroll scrapped it. They've said they'd campaign for Labor if they got their way.
Luke
That deal is the ASU's claim. The government's response didn't address it; it talked about Liberal-One Nation cuts instead.
Mark
What's the ETU's other motive?
Mimi
The construction royal commission. It opposed it, and the money is being redirected to defend members who may be called.
Luke
The resolution also says a Coalition government is coming. That reads partly as a prediction, not a confirmed outcome. And the ETU source's claim that other unions are muted is unverified.
Mark
How does Labor see it?
Mimi
One anonymous MP said the ETU was throwing the toys out of the cot. The government publicly says Carroll fights for working people.
Luke
Polling puts Labor at 44% to 55% two-party-preferred, but One Nation's rise is an unknown that could change how that translates into seats.
O Pulso
- The Australian Services Union has splashed 'Ben lied. Labor lies' across the premier's image in ads targeting seats including his own Niddrie.
- Union organisers will not knock on doors for Labor in the final weeks, leaving a visible gap in the campaign's ground game.
- The Electrical Trades Union has scrapped its statewide Labor campaign and redirected funds to defend members before the construction royal commission.
- Internal polling predicting just 25 Labor seats has hardened ETU resolve, while the government warns of penalty rate cuts and public sector job losses under a Coalition-One Nation alliance.
- With Labor trailing 44 to 55 on two-party preferred, the question is whether other union backers follow, and how far One Nation's rise will scramble the November result.
A month before Victorians decide whether to grant a fourth consecutive term to a government that has rarely been seen in the state's history, two of the old allies of Labor have begun to walk away from it. The quarrel is an old one in democratic life: a promise made, a promise withdrawn, and the people who depend on the promise left to decide where their loyalty now lies. The Australian Services Union, angered over council rate caps that it says limit wages for council workers, is attacking Premier Ben Carroll directly in advertising, while the Electrical Trades Union, shaken by the construction royal commission and by polling that predicts a grim result, has quietly stopped campaigning for Labor altogether. Whether this is principle, self-protection, or a little of both is a question the November vote will eventually answer.
A month before Victorians go to the polls on 28 November, two unions that have long stood behind the state Labor government have stepped back from it, and one has done so in the most public way possible. The Australian Services Union has launched advertisements that place the words "Ben lied. Labor lies" over a large image of Premier Ben Carroll. The ads will run in several seats, including his own Niddrie, and the union has said it will not doorknock for Labor in the weeks ahead.
The quarrel is over the cap on the rates councils can charge residents. The ASU says that cap has limited what councils can pay their staff, and it claims Jacinta Allan had agreed to lift it before Carroll replaced her in July and quietly scrapped the plan. Tash Wark, the union's Victorian secretary, said the premier had chosen not to show up for workers, so workers would not show up for him. She insisted the union had no wish to attack Labor MPs and would happily campaign for them if the government changed course. The government replied that Carroll is fighting for working people, and warned that a Liberal-One Nation coalition would cut penalty rates, sack 31,700 public servants and unleash $40 billion in cuts.
The Electrical Trades Union's break is of a different kind. Its state council has resolved not to run any third-party campaign this year. At the 2022 election the union spent more than $1.6 million backing Labor, and its ads reached millions of people online. This time nothing has been published. Instead the money is going to defending members facing the construction royal commission, a body the union long opposed, and to preparing for what it sees as an attack on blue-collar unions under a possible Coalition government. Its own polling, received in October, predicted Labor would win only 25 seats.
Labor's critics say the unions are sulking. The unions answer that the political world has changed since the leadership change, and that Labor has lost ground. Whether other backers will follow is the question now hanging over the campaign, as the government tries to hold a fourth term against a Coalition that leads 55 to 44 on two-party preferred, with One Nation rising to complicate every calculation.
A month before Victorians vote, two of the unions that have traditionally stood behind the state Labor government have stepped back from it, and one has gone further by putting the premier's face on an attack ad. The Australian Services Union is running advertisements that splash the words "Ben lied. Labor lies" across a large image of Ben Carroll. The Electrical Trades Union, meanwhile, has decided not to run a statewide campaign for Labor at all.
The ASU, which is Labor-aligned and left-aligned, has paid for the ads to appear on news sites and on Google in several seats. They include Carroll's own seat of Niddrie, Pascoe Vale, which Labor holds by a 2% margin against the Greens, and Bentleigh, a Liberal target seat. They will also run in the seats of the deputy premier, the treasurer and the local government minister. The union has confirmed it will not doorknock for Labor in the coming weeks.
The dispute is over the cap on the rates councils can charge residents, which the union says has limited councils' ability to fund higher wages for their staff. The ASU claims it had a deal with Jacinta Allan to lift the cap. Carroll, it says, quickly scrapped that after replacing her as premier in July, citing concern about cost of living pressure on people who don't work for councils.
Tash Wark, secretary of the ASU's Victorian branch, said the premier had chosen not to show up for workers, so workers could not show up for him in November. She said the union would normally be out knocking on doors this close to an election, and would not do so while the government ignores the people who deliver council services. Voters, she said, will hear from the union through ads in their feeds. She added that nobody at the ASU wanted to run ads against Labor MPs, and that the union would not have to if the government did the right thing. She also said the union would be willing to campaign for Labor if it got its way.
A Victorian government spokesperson said Carroll is fighting for working people. They said a Liberal-One Nation coalition would scrap penalty rates, sack 31,700 public sector workers, end paid parental leave and unleash $40 billion in cuts.
The ETU's move is different in kind. Its state council resolved on Wednesday not to run a third-party campaign at the 2026 election, according to a copy of the resolution seen by Guardian Australia. At the 2022 election the union spent more than $1.6m campaigning for Labor and worked with the Labor-aligned agency Creative Edge on social media and broadcast ads. By the same point in that cycle its ads had already aired, eventually reaching 2 million people on Facebook and 1.4 million on YouTube. No ads have been published this time.
Instead, the resolution says, resources will be reallocated to prepare and defend the union and its members at the construction royal commission, and to respond to what it calls the oncoming attack on blue-collar unions from a majority Coalition government. The ETU was a factional backer of the former premier and strongly opposed the royal commission into alleged corruption on the Big Build, calling it a lawyers' picnic. In June it was one of three unions that launched an advertising blitz challenging claims that alleged corruption on government building sites cost taxpayers $15bn.
The resolution also cites polling the ETU commissioned and received at the start of October. It predicted Labor would win just 25 seats, 10 fewer than forecast before the leadership change. The resolution says polling widely reported in the media shows Labor has gone backwards since then. One ETU source, speaking anonymously, said the world is in a different place than six months ago, and that much of the union movement has been quite muted toward Labor in the lead-up. One Labor MP, also anonymous, accused the ETU of throwing the toys out of the cot because it didn't get its way.
Carroll is seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive term on 28 November. The latest polling cited puts Labor behind the Coalition 44% to 55% on a two-party-preferred basis, though the rise of One Nation could complicate the result. Watch whether other union backers follow the ASU and ETU.
Citações Notáveis
Nobody at the ASU wanted to be running ads against Labor MPs, and we don't have to if the government does the right thing.— Tash Wark, secretary, ASU Victorian branch
Ben Carroll is fighting for working people.— Victorian government spokesperson
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Politics & Governance