If anyone in the union movement deserves recognition, it’s Joe De Bruyn. He held onto the national leadership of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) for the best part of four decades.

He has shown the tenacity of a tick, burrowed deep into the flesh of the retail worker. So deep, the process of removal will still require a painful struggle. The first step in any path to recovery is, as they say, recognising the problem.

So every retail and fast food worker should take inspiration from the recent decision of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) to cancel a planned tribute to De Bruyn at its recent triennial congress. De Bruyn was to be recognised for his many years of “service” to workers.

The ACTU made the decision, it seems, to avoid a public show of opposition. Many delegates had planned to turn their backs to De Bruyn as he accepted his award. A message was circulated among delegates labelling him a “homophobic, undemocratic class traitor”.

The meatworkers’ union led the charge, incensed after its members were sold out by a new national deal struck between Coles and the SDA.

The ACTU has spent decades feting and lauding De Bruyn and his political strategy for the retail union. In fact, ACTU president Ged Kearney disgracefully said: “We [the ACTU executive] will be recognising Joe’s service later in the year, so please keep an eye out”.

De Bruyn has provided a model of tame-cat unionism which has ensured that retail workers remain some of the lowest paid in Australia, despite the retail sector booming.

So while I for one welcome the snub, which was forced on a reluctant ACTU executive by the meatworkers, the real victory will come only when the union is rid of his reactionary and pro-boss legacy.