When politics gets mixed up with ice-cream, the results are not always pretty.
The NSW Young Liberals have provoked a strong reaction on social media after posting a photograph in support of embattled ice-cream manufacturer Streets on its Facebook page.
The photograph posted by the NSW Young Liberals features a man and a woman holding Cornettos, a brand of ice-cream made by Streets.
A caption beneath the photograph reads: "Quick #cornettocaucus to support Streets ice-cream. Nothing wrong with Australian jobs and investment."
The photograph follows a campaign by the union representing Streets ice-cream factory workers to urge the public to boycott its products over the summer if the company terminates their agreement on pay and conditions.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union said it was planning a boycott of Streets ice-creams if multinational Unilever, which owns Streets, proceeded with its application in the Fair Work Commission to terminate the current enterprise agreement.
AMWU secretary Steve Murphy said the workers would suffer a 46 per cent pay cut if the enterprise agreement was terminated and workers were forced back onto the award safety net.
Unilever has said it needs to create more flexible working conditions and enhance the competitiveness and viability of the factory in the longer term.
"It is currently 30 per cent cheaper to import a Magnum from Europe, including 16,000 kilometres of frozen transport, rather than make it at Minto," the general manager of ice-cream at Unilever Australia, Anthony Toovey, told the ABC.
"If the union doesn't want Streets to become the next Holden or Ford they need to shelve their calls for a boycott."
The photograph was reposted on the ALP Spicy Meme Stash, which described it as a "tone-deaf" and asked for "ANGRY REACTS ONLY" in another post.
"Hopefully dad doesn't cut their pocket money by 46% after their tone deaf post," read a caption on one of the reposts.
Both postings prompted hundreds of comments on the NSW Young Liberals and ALP Spicy Meme Stash pages, many uncomplimentary and some offensive by people angered by what they said was an attempt to cut the pay and conditions of workers.
"Good to see the NSW Young Libs following the government's lead and completely fumbling an attack on unions," wrote Dylan Richards, a lawyer with Labor law firm Slater and Gordon.
"Not election time so you don't care about western sydney workers and families getting a 46% pay cut? All so a multinational can make some more money? This is disgusting," wrote Amy Louise Richards, a union official.
As of Wednesday night, the Facebook post has garnered more than 1600 'angry' reacts.