So, you paid your $500-or-so to the union every year, expecting that they'll stand up for you, your working conditions, and your fellow union members, right?
Hate to break it to you, but all your hard-earned dollars are going towards is funding union propaganda.
The ACCC's certified agreement is due to expire at the end of November; and under the new workplace relations laws, is required to hold a ballot to decide whether employees wanted a union-negotiated agreement, or an employee-collective agreement. The union (the CPSU) lost, badly (313 to 151).
Now, an employee-collective agreement doesn't mean that the CPSU is cut out of the picture altogether. Quite the contrary. The CPSU were invited to attend every meeting that the nominated employees would have with management (the "Workplace Relations Consultative Committee", or WRCC). After all, there are a number of union members at the ACCC, and they deserved to be represented by the organisation they had paid to be a member of.
Licking their wounds, the CPSU crawled back into their cave, formally advising that the CPSU would not be attending any future meetings, would not provide any supporting material, would not be providing any assistance to the WRCC, and would not be providing any materials to union members.
Are you a union member? You really are throwing your money away. Your union won't even stand up for you during salary and conditions negotiations.