The unions" PM is the unions" poison Paul Kelly: Gillard is more dependent on trade union support for her internal position as Prime Minister than were Gough Whitlam, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Kevin Rudd. The irony of modern Labor is that as trade union coverage of the workforce has declined dramatically, its influence within the Labor Party has only grown. What does this convey? The obvious is conveyed, of course - that the Prime Minister is an AWU puppet, kept in place by union fiat against the manifest wish of most voters. But there is something else the AWU seems unable to contemplate: its own members see their leadership using members" money and their union's authority to keep in power a prime minister many of those union members do not want. Gillard is not merely a union puppet. She is also poison to the union bosses who keep her in power. The bosses discredit Labor, Labor's leader discredits the bosses.