Peter Marshall, Victorian secretary of the United Firefighters, told Socialist Worker why his union is, for the first time, supporting the Greens-and why they support the Greens in the lower house seat of Melbourne as well as the Senate.

"We believe that the balance of power needs to be in favour of progressive forces in the Senate. It is critical that the Greens hold the balance of power. The ALP is now a different beast.

"We are supporting the Greens because we don't want WorkChoices just tinkered with. We want it abolished, removed, extinguished.

"The Greens are the only parliamentary party prepared to tear up WorkChoices.

"So, while the membership has decided to maintain affiliation with the Labor Party the union is supporting the Greens in the Senate and in Melbourne.

"If the Senate stays in the hands of the Liberals and conservatives, the Labor Party will argue that they cannot implement changes to WorkChoices. We can't tell other unions what to do but we are saying that unions cannot afford to blindly follow the ALP."

Judy McVey