The Factory Employees' Union of Australasia was formed in Sydney in about 1908. It covered employees in laundries, fat extraction and bone mills, and factories manufacturing jam, soap, candles, paper, card board boxes, biscuits, cakes, glue and paint. In 1922 the Union became the Factory Branch of the Australian Workers Union, New South Wales Branch (AWU).

Alfred Walter Carter was Union Secretary of the Factory Employees' Association of Australasia from 1909 until his death on 27 September 1935. He came to Australia in the early 1890s and was involved in the formation of the Meat Employees Union in north Queensland before moving to New South Wales where he was involved with the Ferry and Tug Board Employees Union and the Newcastle Branch of the Seamen's Union and then the Factory Employees' Association.