By Cathleen McLeish who is also a member of RAFFWU

On the 11th of August, the Labor government introduced the Associations Incorporation Reform Bill 2026 to Victorian Parliament. The bill in question is a blatant attempt to criminalise the Retail and Fast Food Workers’ Union (RAFFWU), creating a monopoly on bargaining for the ALP-affiliated Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA). 

The SDA was founded by reactionary anti-communists during the height of 1950s ALP ‘grouper’ politics, whilst its rival RAFFWU was established in 2016 after finding that an SDA enterprise bargaining agreement with Coles had employees worse-off than under the Award. The Fair Work Commission heard from Coles retail employees, who were advocated for by a team of experts (including RAFFWU’s founding secretary, Josh Cullinan). What was covered is now considered one of Australia’s largest ever cases of wage theft.

The SDA have had a long and comfortable history of collusion with employers, and an unmatched eagerness to accept bad deals; the Coles case is just one of their many sell outs. Workplaces including McDonalds, Domino’s, Hungry Jack’s and Woolworths have contributed to a mountain of systematic SDA-organised under-award payments which were uncovered in the aftermath of the Coles case.

The SDA’s power within the ALP is informed by their historical relationship with the National Civic Council (NCC). The NCC is a reactionary Catholic lobby group which took control of many unions (including the SDA) during the 1950s through the ALP, seeking to carry out an anti-communist agenda within the Australian labour movement. While the NCC has mostly waned in power today, its portfolio of “Industrial Groups” remains prominent in the ALP.

The mechanics of the SDA’s political power in the ALP today is linked to its registration numbers. The more workers that sign up to the SDA, the more sway they have over the party. Accordingly, the SDA has paid employers millions over the years in ‘commissions’ to encourage recruitment. It is particularly damning for any so-called union to increase its numbers via employers begging their workers to join, but this is how the SDA fundamentally operates.

It is certainly scandalous that the compromised SDA should stand to gain so much so soon after Ben Carrol’s appointment as Premier of Victoria. The SDA is aligned with the same conservative Catholic faction as Carrol, a faction which has allowed them to exert much influence over ALP policy. However, this blow is the result of more than just state politics – the attack on RAFFWU is part of a broader context of class conflict against organised workers.

RAFFWU has maintained its image as a legitimate and powerful trade union. Since its inception they have become responsible for returning around 1 billion dollars per year to organised members. During 2019, RAFFWU (in collaboration with Shine Lawyers) won a class action suit against Big W, McDonald’s and Woolworths regarding breached penalty rate entitlements. The first ever retail strike in Australia was staged in 2022 by RAFFWU-organised retail workers at Apple, demanding improved wages and conditions under a better enterprise agreement than the one proposed by Apple. Coles and Woolworths employees were jointly organised for strike action in 2023, mainly regarding job security and increased rates. Service workers are undeniably better protected under RAFFWU, a union which isn’t dedicated to bolstering capitalists.

Under the proposed bill, RAFFWU (as a group with “the purpose of furthering, protecting or representing the industrial interests of members”) must become an officially registered union or be forcibly shut down. The caveat is that since the SDA is the pre-existing legally recognised union representing service workers, RAFFWU is unable to register.

The success of RAFFWU in securing better deals for workers is obviously making capitalists in the service sector uneasy, so this attempt at union-busting is to be anticipated. Promoting the traitors in the SDA is the perfect cure to anxieties over losing control of the union movement in an industry notorious for its exploitative conditions. 

The service workforce is incredibly vulnerable; we work grueling hours for famously low pay, are prominent victims to unstable contract agreements, and intersect with a high proportion of especially marginalised groups (e.g. young people, people of colour, women, etc.). The job itself also holds a unique relationship with the petty bourgeois class; workers are often subject to the close direct supervision of the owners of their means of production, an especially hostile environment for class struggle. 

The service sector is filled with wage-labourers that sorely require a strong and effective hand to organise and advocate amongst them. The lives of thousands of employees will become materially worse if the SDA were to take charge of industry bargaining.

Solidarity with RAFFWU! Service workers demand an independent and militant union to grow our power and fight against the oppression of the parasitic bourgeois class.

Bibliography

Fair Work Commission. “2016 FWCFB 2887.” Decision, Fair Work Commission, 2016. https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/decisionssigned/html/2016fwcfb2887.htm

Parliament of Victoria. “Associations Incorporation Reform Amendment Bill 2026.” Bill, Parliament of Victoria, 2026. https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/bills/associations-incorporation-reform-amendment-bill-2026

Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. “A History of RAFFWU.” Accessed August 28, 2026. https://raffwu.org.au/about/a-history-of-raffwu/

Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. “SDA Facts.” Accessed August 28, 2026. https://raffwu.org.au/campaigns/industry/campaigns-industry-sda-facts/

Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. “Apple.” Accessed August 28, 2026.  https://raffwu.org.au/workplaces/retail/apple/

Retail and Fast Food Workers Union. “Superstrike.” Accessed August 28, 2026.  https://raffwu.org.au/workplaces/supermarkets/superstrike/

Cameron Atfield. “Workers Strike at Apple’s Core in Unprecedented Industrial Action.” Sydney Morning Herald, October 18, 2022. https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/workers-strike-at-apple-s-core-in-unprecedented-industrial-action-20221018-p5bqob.html

Ben Schneiders & Royce Millar. “Shopped Out.” Sydney Morning Herald, 2016 https://www.smh.com.au/interactive/2016/shopped-out/

Reddit user. “Victorian Labor Has Introduced a Bill That Could…” Posted in r/coles. Accessed August 28, 2026. https://www.reddit.com/r/coles/comments/1vm70ll/victorian_labor_has_introduced_a_bill_that_could/