UNIVERSITY education of generations of Labor premiers has left them unable to understand the hardship faced by blue collar workers under threat of losing their jobs - according to a study linked to a former Victorian ALP heavyweight.

The research, which involved ex-state Labor secretary and campaign director Stephen Newnham, surveyed the educational backgrounds of premiers John Cain, Joan Kirner, Steve Bracks and John Brumby, finding those figures who decided on cuts to the timber industry may have had an ''inbuilt cultural prejudice''.

''Understanding the hardship faced by blue collar workers is a challenge for all of us, particularly so for those whose life experiences and outlook are so vastly different,'' it found.

Mr Newnham's company CPI strategic was commissioned to do the report by Timber Communities Australia.

It noted all four decision makers were university educated, three attended private secondary schools and grew-up in Melbourne.