 Australia 's working class culture also influenced that of the AIF . Approximately three @-@ quarters of AIF volunteers were members of the working class , with a high proportion also being trade unionists , and soldiers frequently applied their attitudes to industrial relations to the Army . Throughout the war there were incidents where soldiers refused to undertake tasks that they considered demeaning or protested against actual or perceived mistreatment by their officers . These actions were similar to the strikes many soldiers had taken part in during their pre @-@ enlistment employment , with the men not seeing themselves as mutineers . The protests which occurred in 1918 over the planned disbandment of several battalions also used similar tactics to those employed in industrial disputes . Historian Nathan Wise has judged that the frequent use of industrial action in the AIF led to improved conditions for the soldiers , and contributed to it having a less strict military culture than was common in the British Army . 
