Contested spaces: Unions and access to employer controlled space for organising under the 'Fair Work Act 2009' (Cth)

Abstract

Australia’s trade union movement faces significant restrictions on their ability to organise workers, due to right of entry provisions under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) that limit union access to work spaces. These regulations are not new, being a consequence of decades of change made to regulate union access to work spaces. In particular, legal changes over time have restricted when unions can access work spaces, which spaces they can access, and have made the process complex and subject to agreement between an employer and union over 'reasonable access'. Throughout this article, we showcase that geography is crucial to understanding right of entry. We analyse how the social regulation of space and time in the workplace, and the rescaling of industrial relations laws, have significantly constrained the agency of workers, and in turn the capacity of unions, collectively to improve working conditions at workplaces across Australia. In response, some unions have attempted to find new ways of organising beyond the workplace, with some success. However, it is yet to be seen if new approaches can overcome the challenge that restricted access to work spaces has on the capacity of employees to improve their working lives. As such, unions continue to believe that there is no adequate replacement for access to work spaces, and therefore remain focused on achieving legislative change that would allow greater access to work spaces. Nonetheless, with no legislative change in sight in the near future, the union movement will need to more widely adopt an organising approach beyond work spaces if they are to prevent further membership decline.