Carroll accused of factional favours over ‘red union’ bill

David Marin-Guzman
Workplace correspondent
Aug 14, 2026 – 5.16pm

One of Ben Carroll’s first pieces of legislation as Victorian premier would effectively wipe out a prominent left-wing rival to the dominant retail union, leading to accusations he is returning factional favours after winning the Labor leadership.

The Carroll government this week introduced surprise amendments to incorporated association laws that it touted would get rid of right-wing “red unions”, which claim to represent tens of thousands of teachers and nurses.

However, the bill is so broad it would also outlaw the activist Retail and Fast Food Workers Union, which has pursued major employers using strikes and class action lawsuits over underpayments.

It would also grant the government extraordinary powers to choose which union associations can exist.

Federal Labor is also making moves to change industrial laws to limit RAFFWU and other unregistered unions’ ability to bargain collectively or take industrial action.

RAFFWU is a left-wing rival to the powerful Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association, formed after exposing hundreds of millions of dollars in underpayments at Woolworths and Coles under SDA agreements.

In recent years, it led the first national strikes at Coles, Woolworths and Apple while backing legal actions against fast-food giants over underpayments.

The union accused Carroll, who is an SDA member, of designing the bill to target RAFFWU as a factional favour to the SDA after taking the leadership.

“Ben Carroll, who was elected by factional forces of the Labor Party, is effectively doing the bidding of his masters, the SDA,” RAFFWU secretary Loukas Kakogiannis said.

“The red unions are a red herring to curry the support of Labor folks for a bill to ostensibly attack the rights of workers to democratically organise in a real union.”

Kakogiannis said that because the union’s base was in Victoria, the laws threatened to effectively deregister the union nationally.

Carroll was approached for comment.

The bill, packaged with proposed bans on Nazi and terrorist groups, would allow Consumer Affairs Victoria to wind up any member association formed for industrial purposes in Victoria unless they were registered under the Fair Work Act.

Industrial associations specifically selected by the regulator are exempt, as are those that applied to be a registered union before July 1 this year, two months before the bill was announced.

Either way, RAFFWU and other unregistered unions face significant hurdles getting registration because current Fair Work laws include a “conveniently belong” test that protects existing unions’ coverage from competition.

Unregistered unions ‘scamming workers’

SDA Victorian secretary Michael Donovan declined to comment, saying the bill “hasn’t been on my radar” and his focus was on stronger workplace protection orders for retail members facing abuse.

Minister for Consumer Affairs Tim Richardson accused unregistered unions of scamming workers out of “real union protection”, given they did not have powers such as right of entry.

“If you’re calling yourself a union, you should have to act like one,” he said.

“Workers deserve a union that actually fights for them – not one that takes their money and leaves them exposed.”

Greens Victoria workplace spokesman Aiv Puglielli, whose party has four seats in the state upper house, signalled crossbench opposition to the bill.

“We’ve only just seen these laws, but we’re seriously alarmed and blindsided by what appears to be an attempt by Labor to shut down RAFFWU just because they don’t agree with them,” he said.

“Labor can crack down on sham organisations without shutting down RAFFWU, a union that overwhelmingly represents young, low-paid workers and has fought back against the supermarket duopoly.”

Last month, Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth, a former SDA organiser, also moved amendments to the national Labor platform to bind the party to target “sham unions”.

The amendments say Labor will legislate to limit unregistered unions’ participation in industrial matters, including acting as bargaining representatives, and ensure current union regulations are “fit for purpose”.

As a legacy of Howard-government reforms, unions are no longer necessary to negotiate collective agreements, and individual workers can act as their own bargaining representatives and even seek protected action ballots.

Associations have been able to use these rights to engage in collective bargaining. As a result, there has been growing consternation among some unions that there is little benefit in registering under industrial laws.

In the past decade, there has also been the rise of conservative “red unions”, started in 2012 by Queensland Liberal Party activist and donor Graeme Haycroft, who objected to teachers’ and nurses’ unions donating money to Labor.

Red Union spokesman Edward Schuller said Victorian red unions had 6000 members and were involved in current bargaining over teachers’ pay.

However, he said the bill would affect 26,000 members nationally because red unions had moved their base to Victoria in response to similar association laws in Queensland.

“We’re living in a Soviet state if only government-approved unions are allowed,” he said.

“This bill is infringing on the rights of workers to freely associate and form unions, and it’s basically due to the lack of competition among unions.”

Victorian Trades Hall said red unions had “been set up by bad faith actors to rip workers off”.

“They can’t legally enter a workplace to assist members, hold discussions with employees, or inspect records relating to a workplace contravention,” it said in a statement.