The Australasian Society of Engineers was established in 1890, by members of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers dissatisfied with the British dominance of that union. The Australasian Society of Engineers was first federally registered as a trade union in 1910 at which time there were branches in New South Wales, Adelaide (1904), Western Australia and Broken Hill (1909). By January 1914 the union branches included Collie, Melbourne, Adelaide, SA State, Wallaroo, Newcastle, South Sydney, Bathurst, Sydney, Perth, Petersburg, Port Adelaide, Quorn, Granville, Broken Hill, and Prospect. The union became defunct in February 1938 but was re-registered in August 1938. In 1991 it amalgamated with the Federated Ironworkers' Association of Australia to form the Federation of Industrial Manufacturing and Engineering Employees. This union later amalgamated with the Australian Workers' Union to form the AWU-FIME Amalgamated Union in 1993, later known simply as the AWU.

The Federation of Industrial Manufacturing and Engineering Employees was formed in 1991 as an amalgamation of the Australasian Society of Engineers and the Federated Ironworkers' Association of Australia. In September 1992 the Australian Glass Workers' Union also amalgamated and in November 1992 the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners of Australia, the Australian Rope and Cordage Workers' Union and the Australian Brushmakers' Union. In 1993 the union then amalgamated with the Australian Workers' Union with the official title the AWU-FIME Amalgamated Union, commonly referred to as the Australian Workers' Union.