HSU, AWU conduct Labor opinion poll showing the party facing an historic defeat

Opposition Leader Jodi McKay has accused union bosses of “wasting money” on a poll which showed support for the party in NSW has slumped to 100-year lows.

Jodi McKay is in open warfare with NSW union bosses, dubbing them “faceless men” trying to “coward punch” her in the wake of dire polling.

Ms McKay is in a battle to save her leadership, amid increasing anxiety in the caucus about Labor’s electability after polling leaked by the Health Services Union and Australian Workers Union showed the party faced electoral ­annihilation with a primary vote of just 23.9 per cent.

It can also be revealed the HSU has left open the option of withdrawing financial support for the NSW Labor Party.

Jodi McKay says she will “take on” the union leaders. Picture: Gaye Gerard

But Ms McKay’s attack on Australian Workers Union boss Dan Walton and Health Services Union secretary Gerard Hayes for commissioning the polling has bought her leadership time with key opponents unwilling to link a challenge to what could appear to be orders from unions.

“We can’t have this look like the union is calling the shots,” one Labor MP who wants a leadership change said.

There are multiple senior Labor MPs — including those who once supported Ms McKay — who believe a new leader is needed to reset the party’s fortunes, however they remain unwilling to mount a challenge.

This is partly due to the complexity of modern spill rules which make it difficult to replace a leader.

Ms McKay went on morning radio yesterday to accuse the union leaders of wasting “members’ money” on an opinion poll she likened to a “coward’s punch” against her leadership.

She also pledged to hold a reshuffle.

Gerard Hayes from the Health Services Union.

Ms McKay slammed Mr Walton and Mr Hayes for commissioning and leaking the research.

“They didn’t support me and they’ve undermined me from day one,” she told Ray Hadley on 2GB.

“And now they’ve used their members’ money to conduct a secret poll and instead of coming to me … they release it to the media and coward punch me from behind.

“If you’re a cleaner in a hospital or a steelworker your money has gone to do secret polling to take me down.”

However, hours later the unions hit back in a joint statement referring to Ms McKay as the “current Opposition leader”.

In the statement, the HSU and AWU said they commissioned polling “concerning community attitudes to a number of policy matters relevant to our members” including COVID management and political leadership.

Daniel Walton of the Australian Workers’ Union.

“Labor cannot and will not win an election on its current trajectory,” it said.

The union bosses said it was “deeply regrettable” for Ms McKay to refer to the polling as a “coward punch,” a term “associated with the tragic deaths of young Australians”.

“Nobody in public life should be exempt from fair and measured scrutiny. It comes with the terrain for all of us,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the Labor leader’s threat of an imminent reshuffle was seen by multiple ALP MPs as a warning to Treasury spokesman Walt Secord.

“Walt isn’t pulling his weight. Daniel Mookhey is the real shadow Treasurer,” the source said.