MELBOURNE, June 28 (Xinhua) -- A force of 10,000 firefighters from the Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA) are set to target polling booths throughout the state's marginal seats on the July 2 election day, in what shapes as a blow to the Australian Labor Party's federal campaign.
CFA volunteers have been frustrated by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' handling of a three-year dispute between the CFA and the United Firefighters Union (UFU), a union representing career fire fighters.
The UFU have been negotiating with the Victorian Government over a new pay deal that would significantly raise the wages of career firefighters, their working conditions and safety measures.
But the CFA has rejected the new deal, as it feared it would give the UFU too much power over operational decisions and would threaten the volunteer organization.
The CFA is one of the world's largest volunteer emergency services and community safety organizations. Its 59,000 volunteers are responsible for controlling fires in country Victoria and outer Melbourne, and played a major role in saving lives and homes in the 2009 Victorian bushfire, known as 'Black Saturday'.
Andrews' intervention in the firefighters' dispute has had an adverse effect on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's federal campaign. In a survey published by NewsCorp earlier this week, it was revealed 40 percent of voters in four of Victoria's marginal seats were less likely to vote Labor because of the CFA dispute.
Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull has urged Andrews to reconsider his support for the new UFU deal, warning him it could damage the CFA. The federal government is considering legislation to protect the CFA from a union takeover, as the power play is threatening to spill into the federal election campaign.
The dispute is set to come to a head on July 2, election day, when an army of CFA volunteers are set to face off against hundreds of UFU members in key marginal seats across Victoria.
NewsCorp is reporting that CFA members will be at polling booths in their yellow uniforms, carrying signs and talking to voters.
One senior CFA volunteer organizer said: "We'll be there with our trucks, carrying signs, wearing our yellows."
UFU members plan to hand out how-to-vote cards which put the Liberal Party last.
