From 2000 until its merger in 2018, Paddy Crumlin was National Secretary of the MUA and since 2010 he has been President of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).

In late 2015, the MUA and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) commenced merger talks.

The Communist Party of Australia was formed in October 1920, and achieved some influence in the trade union movement, especially in New South Wales.

Though its influence had dwindled to an insignificant sect by the mid-1920s, it kept positions in particular trade unions, including the Waterside Workers' Federation.

The union was regarded as militant and disruptive to the economy, and has suffered numerous attempts to suppress its activities.

[13] The timing of this move was potentially damaging for the union as Julia Gillard was in the process of talking to employers, in an attempt to rewrite the Howard government's workplace relations system.

One editorial in the Australian Financial Review said that Paddy Crumlin had done the workplace relations debate a "big favour" by trying to "revive the ghosts of the [1998 waterfront dispute]" because the union's power could show Labor that industries such as cafes, restaurants and accommodation needed flexibility but were being "shut out of consideration because their lobbies are less powerful".