His rise to leadership of the ALP began with a series of attacks on unions and elected union leaders, most specifically the ETU's state secretary Dean Mighell. However it wasn't unionists - or the people - but right wing factional warlords who brought Prime Minister Kevin Rudd down. If only they'd brought him down because of his attack on unions! Sadly, the only reason being cited for Rudd's demise is his personal style and his declining popularity in the polls. One insider - anonymous as usual - went as far as to describe him as a crypto-fascist.  Was the insider talking about Rudd's industrial relations policies and support for the ABCC?  The ETU thinks not.

ETU members would be aware that new Prime Minister Julia Gillard has supported the ABCC and IR legislation described by Dean Mighell as being on a par  with John Howard's WorkChoices. Ms Gillard also went to war against the teacher unions in their opposition to the publication of what those unions deemed 'misleading data' on the My School website. But of course it was the teachers, like industrial workers, not Julia who were in the trenches!

The ETU welcomes the arrival of a female Prime Minister but will wait to see whether this leads to an ALP committed to progressive policies and to engaging unions and workers rather than kowtowing to factional warlords.