DON'T believe the tricky wordplay of union powerbrokers springing to the defence of Julia Gillard's embattled leadership.
Of course no union secretary "directs" members of the parliamentary party how to vote in leadership ballots. They don't have to.
When Paul Howes went on live national television to call for the removal of a first-term prime minister in 2010, Labor MPs received the message loud and clear.
The AWU secretary was not the only powerbroker making calls to Canberra or using the media to communicate his views. So did key figures from the shoppies union, the Transport Workers Union and the (then respectable) Health Services Union.
While it is doubtful they needed to go public or make calls to shore up support for Gillard to topple Kevin Rudd, their involvement sealed the deal.
That they are now sending a message they won't stand in the way of a leadership change or seek to influence caucus members' votes is significant.
Of course they'll pledge public support for the Prime Minister. But, privately, few of them are strong-arming MPs to stick with Gillard. How can they?
ACTU and Labor polling reveals the diabolical standing of the government. Ironically, it was in these same circumstances that Howes and others made their move against Rudd.
And ignore the absurd suggestion that union leaders don't, or can't, influence caucus members how to vote.
There are many caucus members who owe their Labor preselections to union support. Unions exert enormous influence inside the party, particularly over the preselection of MPs. If MPs challenge this power, their own positions will be in jeopardy.
In 1983 ACTU president Cliff Dolan undermined Bill Hayden's leadership of the party and urged MPs to back Bob Hawke as leader.
While a senior serving union figure is unlikely to call for Gillard to resign, ignore the nonsense that it hasn't happened before or that unions can't make their views known in other ways.