Did you hear the one about the "crocodile hunter"
who stopped a concrete pour at a construction site? Or the union
official who abused a safety manager, threw away his lunch and
locked him out of the crib room? How about the HR manager who
threatened to confiscate a union newsletter detailing the
company's unlawful enterprise agreement?
Workplace interaction between unions and employers provides
fertile ground for conflict but what does the law say about a
union's right to access your workplace and speak to your
workers?
What is right of entry?
Right of entry describes the regulation of a union's right
to enter workplaces. Right of entry provisions in the Work,
Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act) and the Fair Work Act
2009 (FW Act) aim to strike a balance between a union's
right to represent its members by holding discussions and
investigating possible contraventions of WHS laws in a workplace,
and the right of employers to carry out business without
