More unions down tools in Labor’s Victorian election campaign as ‘trust broken’ | Victoria state election 2026

On Wednesday afternoon, Ben Carroll was sticking french fries in his soft serve at his local McDonald’s when the ground moved under him.

A major union had just decided to pull funds from his campaign and declared him a lost hope. As Carroll travelled in a red bus with the slogan “fighting for working people” splashed across it, another union called him a liar who had “chosen not to show up for workers”.

On the campaign trail, the premier is putting on a relaxed and positive front. But multiple Labor sources are sounding the alarm after a messy week that has seen a rump of the party’s union base abandon it.

“Trust has been broken,” says a senior Labor party source, who requested anonymity to speak freely. “Unions don’t believe this government has been focused on working people because they haven’t been.”

On Friday, as members of other unions confirmed they wouldn’t be campaigning for Labor, the Australia Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) issued a call for solidarity.

The AMWU’s Victorian secretary, Tony Mavromatis, said any unionists thinking workers would be better off under the Coalition or One Nation were “mad”.

“If the mop does flop that way, I will look them in the eye and say, ‘Well this is what you wanted,’” says Mavromatis.

In the meantime, Labor strategists are concerned that some unions downing tools might add to an impression the party has lost control. They fear that ultimately, it may cost them seats.

“On election day, if it’s a tight contest and an opposition MP might just get over the line, then we will miss those unions pouring advertising money into those seats,” said one senior Labor figure.

Bad blood after a bad week

The source of union grievances with Labor are wide ranging and long term. Some unions remain bitterly frustrated by disagreements and disputes that stretch back many years. Others appear factional and centred on Carroll calling a royal commission into the construction sector.

Labor insiders say tension between the industrial and parliamentary wings of the movement is nothing new and when appropriately managed, it can lead to policy change and better ideas.

“That has thoroughly broken down,” said one senior Labor source. “It’s been broken to such an extent that unions are now left with no option but to pursue their member interests at the exclusion of our political interests.”

On Wednesday, the Electrical Trades Union (ETU) state council resolved not to run a statewide campaign for Labor, despite spending more than $1.6m supporting the party at the last election. That money would instead be spent defending members who may be called before the royal commission.

On the same day, the United Firefighters Union – which has been embroiled in a wages dispute with government since 2021 – launched its ad campaign urging Victorians to “put Labor last”.

National secretary Peter Marshall speaks during a United Firefighters Union Victoria protest in Melbourne in September 2023. Photograph: Diego Fedele/AAP

Meanwhile, the Australian Service Union confirmed it was paying for ads calling the premier a liar and that it would not be door knocking. This relates to its long-term campaign to lift the 1.5% rate cap on councils, which restricts pay rises for workers like garbage collectors and librarians.

Several Labor figures expected the UFU to do this. They were disappointed but not surprised by the ETU. But many were furious at the ASU, which has been a traditionally steadfast union not known for such tactics in election campaigns.

One Labor MP says there was “a lack of solidarity within the union movement”. Another says the peak body for unions in the state, Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC), “should have to explain why so many unions are sitting the election out or actively campaigning against us”.

Another MP says some union members had “clearly forgotten history” – pointing to the end days of the Cain-Kirner government when tram drivers and conductors staged large protests against plans to cut 550 conductor and 550 station staff jobs.

“Labor went on to lose the election and the Libs did it anyway. Do these people think that their lives will be easier under a Coalition government? They’re in for a reality check.”

The head of VTHC , Luke Hilakari, who in June called for Labor MPs to “work their ass off” to defeat One Nation, offered no criticism of his members. He said “the Labor party is at its best when it delivers for working people”.

Secretary of Victorian Trades Hall Council, Luke Hilakari, addresses the crowd at a teachers’ strike in Melbourne in March 2026. Photograph: James Ross/AAP

One senior Labor source was more direct. He told colleagues criticising unions to stop doing so.

“This is a problem within our movement,” they say. “Anyone who say unions should subjugate their members’ interests to us as the political wing of the movement should not earn positions of authority.”

‘It’s desperation and anger’

But on Friday, members of another union declared they wouldn’t be campaigning for Labor.

Until recently, the Australian Education Union’s Victorian branch had been locked into disputes with the state government over teacher’s pay and school funding. It was running paid ads against Labor MPs until early October.

On Wednesday, the union mobilised against Labor over changes they say would see a funding cut to students with disabilities in public schools. The government, however, says overall disability funding in schools is growing and that no child will be left behind.

The union is not formally affiliated with Labor and has not endorsed it at this campaign.

“We are absolutely not campaigning for Labor,” says Lucy Honan, a state councillor with the Australian Education Union in Melbourne. “I can’t even describe to you the sense of anger we have. It’s desperation and anger.”

The Health and Community Services Union, meanwhile, has eight members running this election – none for the Labor party it is affiliated with. Its secretary, Paul Healey, has signed off on flyers encouraging members to support the Greens and Socialist candidates.

The AMWU, meanwhile, won’t tell its members who to vote for but is distributing material highlighting the achievements of unions in the 12 years Labor has been in government – things like free Tafe, criminalising wage theft and portable long service leave.

“Yes, people are angry, people are shitty,” Mavromatis says. “But when people are angry and shitty they just remember the shit and they don’t remember all the good stuff.

“It’s important to remind members what unions have achieved with a Labor government since 2014.”

But for some, it’s not enough.

“The unions and a whole lot of low-paid workers see the premier, driving around in the big red campaign bus that says he’s for working people, and rightfully wondering, well is he?” one MP says.