The Victorian Labor government's Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026 is a piece of legislation that, in the name of protecting unions, actually attacks them. The proposed legislation essentially forces any "unregistered" union incorporated in Victoria to wind up - "unregistered" in this instance referring to registration with the Fair Work Commission (FWC). Aside from a section about hate groups, which is uncontroversial, the bill primarily targets two things: the Retail and Fast Food Workers' Union (RAFFWU), and the "Red Unions".
Will the real retail union please stand up?
RAFFWU was set up around ten years ago, by a group of union activists and rank-and-file workers determined to improve the wages and conditions of workers in retail and fast food, which were not only being undermined by employers, but also by the very union that was meant to represent them - the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees' Association (SDA).
The SDA's right-wing behaviour is well known. They are led by politicians who make up Labor's most aggressively conservative faction. Their modus operandi is to sign sweetheart agreements with employers that offer worse pay and conditions than the retail award, in exchange for the employers helping the SDA recruit their employees. They then use this expanded membership to promote homophobia, transphobia, neoliberalism, and anti-abortion policy within the Labor Party. The fact that these positions are unpopular with their disproportionately young base is irrelevant, since their members have no say.
RAFFWU first became known for their legal challenges in the courts and in the FWC to junk rotten SDA agreements that leave workers worse than the award. Within a few years, however, they had major organising campaigns underway, mobilising workers on the shopfloor level to defend their rights and win better pay and conditions. They have largely been successful on both counts, even with their small staff and modest resources. Their legal challenges have junked agreements that should have never gotten up, and have won thousands and thousands in backpay to workers denied basic entitlements.
Their industrial actions have also been successful, with members organising a number of strikes to secure industry-leading agreements like the one at Better Read than Dead Books in Sydney. In SDA strongholds like Woolworths and Coles, they have led unprecedentedly popular campaigns against the employer-SDA agreements, drawing thousands of people towards solid unionism, and winning over long-term SDA members in the process.
However, RAFFWU is vulnerable. Generally, registered unions have the formal role of representing workers at the FWC. However, RAFFWU is prevented from registering - the FWC effectively only recognises one union per job, preventing the registration of any rival bodies. If they applied to register, there is no guarantee that they'd succeed (and the SDA hacks promoting the bill know this).
In order to represent workers at the FWC, RAFFWU relies on members appointing them as their independent bargaining representative, allowing them to carry out nearly all the functions of unions at the FWC while not being registered as one. This is what allows them to do things like undertake protected industrial actions. This has worked well so far. But they are only able to do this because of specific parts of the legislation allowing for these bargaining representatives - sections that could indeed be amended.
Red or yellow?
The so-called "Red Unions", on the other hand, are a collection of yellow unions set up by Liberal party activists and other right wingers to undermine the dominant unions - primarily in public education, healthcare, and the public service. They first came into the limelight during the COVID pandemic, when they represented workers disgruntled with vaccine mandates.
Unionists are right to be concerned about the role they play in undermining their own efforts. The Red Unions are known for exploiting confused people who don't know any better and think they are "the union". They take advantage of the remoteness of the established unions from everyday workers in order to present themselves as the real deal.
We need to fight the Red Unions, but outlawing them is a shortcut that doesn't address the fundamental problem. We don't need the government to fix our problems for us - we need to make the actual unions in teaching and nursing far better, so that no one would even consider joining a Red Union. If there is a strong amount of rank-and-file activity on the shop floor and in the actual union that is clearly fighting for the interests of workers, it would be near-impossible for Red Unions to con people into joining them.
If the proposed Victorian legislation passes, then RAFFWU will be thrown into an existential crisis. There is an additional threat that this legislation will be adopted by other states and territories, and possibly even the federal government. Arecent federal Labor conference passed a motion, moved by the SDA, to support legislation targeting "unregistered unions".
Unionists in every industry need to start rolling the solidarity ball now to make sure this legislation doesn't pass. Talk to people about what's happening. Pass motions in your branches opposing the laws and supporting RAFFWU. Force the issue at state and federal conferences. Force the leadership of these unions to pull their support for the legislation. The next time RAFFWU undertakes an industrial action, be there - and bring your fellow workers.
When RAFFWU was launched, it was quietly and tacitly supported by officials of some left-wing unions, who were keen to see their prime factional rivals in the SDA undermined. The unanimous support given to the Carroll government's proposed legislation by the left-wing unions has shown how thin this initial support was; how they've given up any semblance of supporting progressive unionism in order to make a factional deal within Labor. If rank-and-file members of these unions force the leadership to change course, then the SDA's entire push could fall apart.
Workers everywhere should know how much is at stake if these laws pass. RAFFWU isn't just some tiny activist venture, it's an unprecedented opportunity for workers in the strategically critical retail and fast food industry to mobilise for better pay and conditions. If these campaigns continue to grow and succeed, then the repercussions for the entire union movement could be significant. If the SDA are instead allowed to use their government ties to legislate their rivals out of existence, then the consequences would hurt all of us.
https://ancomfed.org/2026/09/retail-workers-deserve-a-real-union-support-raffwu/
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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