The Labor Party's ACT branch has received hundreds of new members since its resounding federal election defeat seven months ago and its three federal politicians are backing reforms put forward by their leader Bill Shorten to push numbers higher despite concerns from a local union organisation.
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Branch president and senator Kate Lundy said 200 new members in Canberra joined the party in the period following the poll disaster which led to the leadership debates between Mr Shorten and Anthony Albanese.
The 20 per cent membership spike comes as Unions ACT secretary Kim Sattler criticised further separating workers organisations from the party by scrapping compulsory union membership for people in the party.
''It's like saying my relatives are too close to me,'' said Ms Sattler, whose organisation represents 24 Canberra unions which have 30,000 members.
''The union movement is where the Labor Party was born - we were the heroes of 2007 and now suddenly we're the demons.''
Ms Sattler said there had been no problems in the past with party members finding a union to join.
In her view, separating unions from the party could lead to fewer volunteers on polling days.
She stressed Labor's federal politicians in the ACT were great union supporters, even though Fraser MP Andrew Leigh, Canberra MP Gai Brodtmann and Senator Lundy support scrapping mandatory union membership for party members.
Mr Leigh and his colleagues, like their leader, said the party should maintain its relationship with the unions.
''We must remember Labor was born out of the trade union movement, which gave workers the 40-hour week and annual leave,'' Mr Leigh said.
A recent survey of 400 Canberrans by his office - many of them readers of his newsletter - found 42 per cent believed a Labor-union relationship was the best way for workers' aspirations to be argued in Parliament.
Another 28.5 per cent said ''no'' while 29.5 per cent were ''unsure''.
Almost 90 per cent of respondents said unions played a significant role in Australia, 81 per cent said union influence was positive and 91 per cent were concerned the Abbott government would attempt to hinder unions in workplaces.
Despite this more than 70 per cent said the contribution of unions had decreased and 70 per cent said there were significant cultural and workplace pressures preventing people from joining a union.
Ms Brodtmann had to become a union member when she owned a small business for 10 years before her election.
''I was my own boss, I negotiated my own fee directly with my clients - I didn't have a need to join a union,'' she said.
''However, I remained a member of a union throughout this time so that I could maintain my ALP membership.
''I don't think this is the situation we want, where people are joining a union simply so that they can tick the box on their ALP membership form. Or worse, people who want to join the ALP are not able to because they are not a member of a union,'' she said.
The touted reforms will mean the party nationally catches up to Labor's ACT branch in at least one way: the territory branch already has 100 per cent rank and file pre-selection.