Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.Victorian Trades Hall Council. The voice of Victorian workers since 1856.

Victorian trade union marginal seats campaign chalks up big wins

26 November 2007
by Brian Boyd, VTHC Secretary

Last Saturday, Federal election results saw much attention being given to the marginal seats of Deakin, La Trobe and Corangamite.
 
On Saturday evening Deakin and Corangamite were deemed historic losses for the Coalition.
 
The marginal seat wins are significant as the ALP candidates were openly standing as trade unionists.  Mike Symon (ETU) won Deakin and Darren Cheeseman (public sector union) won Corangamite.  La Trobe was too close to call.
 
These results are also interesting given that when the VTHC was handed responsibility for these seats by the ACTU's Campaign Committee at the end of 2006, the expectation was that there was little chance of any success.  Victoria was considered to be 'maxed out': the voting shifts were expected in QLD, NSW and South Australia.
 
The Liberal Party machine threw millions of dollars of advertising in an attempt to counter the trade union movement at every chance.

Darren Cheeseman and Mike Symon were particularly singled out in the anti-union hysteria.  The wider community rejected this union bashing campaign out of hand.

The VTHC congratulates the Campaign Coordinators for all their hard work in Deakin, Corangamite and La Trobe. 

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