Last month’s Australian election has apparently given the country’s union movement reason to celebrate. Labor leaders are trumpeting what they see as the rejection of the Turnbull coalition government’s “destructive policies” and the important role unions played in anti–Liberal Party campaigns across the country.

The coalition’s reduced majority seemed unthinkable only ten months ago when Malcolm Turnbull rose to power. And, in many ways, the election can be seen as a remarkable turnaround for a labor movement that has been under attack for years.

Yet as leaders revel in the results, they continue to ignore the serious issues their movement faces. While the Australian Labor Party (ALP) came close to winning this year’s federal election, union membership remains at an all-time low, and labor withstands attacks from across the political spectrum.