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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Tory Shepherd

A trade union for free speech? Battle lines drawn over groups that claim representative status

The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus
The ACTU secretary, Sally McManus, has denounced unregistered unions as ‘fake’, but the Free Speech Union says the traditional union movement should not be afraid of competition. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

What is a trade union? Until very recently the answer to that question seemed obvious to most people, but the emergence during the pandemic of “red unions”, which pledged to support members in challenges to vaccine mandates, suddenly cast it into doubt.

Now the Free Speech Union of Australia (FSU), which does not represent workers in any particular trade, has also staked a claim for union status, maintaining the tax provisions of a registered union apply to its members’ fees.

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