The right of union organisers to be able to speak to workers is being curtailed, the Australian Industrial Relations Commission heard this week in a case brought forward by the ACTU.

An AMWU organiser in Victoria, Harriet Stewart was prevented from handing out leaflets outside the gate of caravan maker Jayco in Dandenong, Victoria whilst in Brisbane, AMWU officials were forced to hold a meeting in a dangerous car park where there was traffic from large trucks.

The cases, are being used as a test case to highlight the lack of political rights of unions when it comes to right of entry to workplaces and talking with employees.

The Rudd Labor Government has indicated it will keep the Howard Government's laws on the issue but unions are mounting a campaign to bring about better laws for proper ‘right of entry.’

AMWU National Secretary Dave Oliver said the case demonstrated the need for "proper right of entry rules".

"Our experience over the last few years is that employers have severely restricted the capacity of employees to access unions in their workplaces," he said.

Mr Oliver said the laws allowed employers to nominate inconvenient places for people to meet such as toilet blocks, loadings bays or the bosses' office.

In the Jayco case, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union organiser Harriet Stewart was told earlier this year by the company that she was no longer allowed to hand out flyers to employees at the factory gate - despite it being a common practice in manufacturing.

Due to the layout of the large Jayco factory, the only other place she could hand out material to the workers was at a dangerous juncture of a public road and the service road.

Ms Stewart said Jayco, which employs more than 600 people, had been traditionally non-union. But a leaflet campaign and petition asking for higher wages - she says the workers are poorly paid - had seen the AMWU sign up more than 30 members earlier this year.

Since then attitudes from management have changed, Ms Stewart said, and they were told they needed to give 24 hours notice before handing out leaflets as outside the factory gate was a private road.

She was then told she could only meet employees in a training room, not out the front where there was far easier access to employees.