Two major unions in Victoria have turned their back on the Labor government a month out from the state election, with one launching attack ads calling Ben Carroll a liar and the other pulling campaign funding.
The Labor-aligned Australian Services Union (ASU), which launched the ads, has also confirmed it won’t doorknock for Labor in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) state council resolved on Wednesday not to run a statewide campaign for Labor, despite spending more than $۱.۶m supporting the party at the last election, with funds to be diverted to support members who could be called before the construction royal commission.
A copy of the resolution, seen by Guardian Australia, states that the ETU will “not run a third-party campaign at the ۲۰۲۶ state election”.
Instead, it plans to “reallocate resources previously earmarked for this campaign to prepare and defend the ETU and its members in the royal commission” and respond to what is describes as the “impacts of the oncoming attack on blue-collar unions and their members from a majority Coalition government”.
The resolution cites polling commissioned by the ETU and received at the start of October, which predicted Labor would win just ۲۵ seats at the election – ۱۰ fewer than forecast before the July leadership spill that saw Ben Carroll replace Jacinta Allan as premier.
“This is reinforced by polling widely reported in the media, which shows that since the leadership change, Victorian Labor has gone backwards in support,” the resolution reads.
The ASU’s attack on Labor relates to its long-running campaign to lift a cap on rates that councils can charge residents, which has constrained their ability to fund higher wages for staff.
The left-aligned union claims it had a deal with Allan to lift the cap, which Carroll quickly scrapped after taking over the leadership, due to concerns it would increase cost of living pressures for non-council workers.
The ASU ads splash the words “Ben lied. Labor lies” over a large image of the premier.
The union has paid for these ads to run across news sites and on Google in Carroll’s own seat of Niddrie, the seat of Pascoe Vale, held by Labor on a ۲% margin against the Greens and the seat of Bentleigh, a target seat for the Liberals. The ads will also feature in seats held by the deputy premier, the treasurer and the local government minister.
“Premier Ben Carroll has chosen not to show up for workers and so workers can’t show up for him this November,” said Tash Wark, the secretary of the ASU’s Victorian branch.
“We would normally be out knocking doors this close to an election. We won’t be doing that while the government ignores the people who deliver council services, so voters … will hear from us directly through ads in their feeds.”
Wark said the union would be willing to campaign for Labor if it got its way.
“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,” she said.
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The ETU, which was a factional backer of the former premier, strongly opposed a royal commission into allegations of corruption on the Big Build, which it described as a lawyers’ picnic.
In June, it was also one of three unions to launch an advertising blitz challenging claims that alleged corruption on government building sites cost taxpayers $۱۵bn.
At the ۲۰۲۲ election, the ETU spent more than $۱.۶m campaigning for the party and worked with the Labor-aligned advertising agency, Creative Edge, to produce social media and broadcast ads supporting its re-election.
By the same point in the election cycle four years ago, the ETU’s ads had already been aired. They went on to reach ۲ million people on Facebook and another ۱.۴ million people on YouTube. No ads have been published for this election.
“The world is in a different place than it was six months ago, let alone four years ago,” said one ETU source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.
“We aren’t alone. A lot of the union movement have been pretty muted towards Labor in the lead up to this election.”
One Labor MP, speaking anonymously as they were unauthorised to speak publicly, accused the ETU of “throwing the toys out the cot because they didn’t get what their way”.
Carroll is seeking an unprecedented fourth consecutive term for Labor at the ۲۸ November election.The latest polling cited in the report puts Labor behind the Coalition on a two-party-preferred basis, at ۴۴% to ۵۵%. The rise of One Nation, however, could complicate the final result.
The premier’s office was contacted for comment.
