Inside unions' push to Change The Rules

Unions and their bitter rivals have drawn the battlelines for the decade's defining moment in industrial relations.

It's increasingly likely the effectiveness of competing clarion calls will play a major role in the outcome of the next federal election.

In the red corner, Australia's union movement.

The old slugger, which some argue has lost its power in recent years, remains determined to land a knockout blow against the Turnbull government.

In the blue corner, the coalition and big business.

It's led by plucky up-and-comer Craig Laundy, the new workplace relations minister intent on overcoming his side's long-time rival.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions is mobilising its attack through the Change The Rules campaign.

It shapes as the biggest bout since the Your Rights At Work triumph a decade ago, while the landmark waterfront dispute recently marked its 20th birthday.

"I feel as though the Change The Rules campaign is absolutely the campaign for this generation," ACTU secretary Sally McManus told AAP.

The 2004-2007 campaign against the Howard government's Work Choices laws and the maritime union's fight against Patrick stevedores in 1998 were defensive efforts.

McManus says the offensive nature of Change The Rules is a key difference.

"They were fights that we were forced into and really both of them we had our back against the wall," she said.

"We didn't pick or choose those fights - they were forced upon us."

This time, the union movement is lobbying for an overhaul of the industrial relations framework, much of which was established by a Labor government.

Unions say the fight is over better pay and job security, with big business and the Turnbull government firmly in the ACTU's crosshairs.

But can they match the might of Your Rights At Work?

Griffith University industrial relations professor David Peetz says that campaign was the biggest single factor in Labor's historic defeat of the Howard government in 2007.

"It wasn't a campaign themed around 'Work Choices is screwing unions', it was a campaign about Work Choices screwing individual workers," Prof Peetz told AAP.

He said during the 2016 election, the seats targeted by unions achieved swings of between 1.5 per cent and two per cent away from the government.

"That's not chickenfeed by any means - that's quite influential," Prof Peetz said.

"If they were able to do that again targeting those, that would be absolutely critical in potentially changing government."

McManus is unsure whether Change The Rules will have the impact of Your Rights At Work.

But she's confident of one crucial factor.

"I feel as though there is an incredible amount of unity which is absolutely essential in order to win a really big campaign," McManus said.

McManus's popularity within the movement is undoubtedly driving harmony.

There was a common theme in the speeches at a major delegates' meeting in Melbourne recently.

"It's not about individuals, but boy we love Sally," one person present told AAP.

While unity and sense of purpose can't be questioned, unions aren't being given an easy road to victory.

Laundy, who before entering politics worked in the family business managing pubs, was handed the workplace portfolio last year.

He has called for big business to fight the campaign with union-style organisational skills, warning of a bleak future if the ACTU's demands are met.

"It's going to be gung-ho battle for the next 12 months, but one I'm up for," he said.

Prof Peetz believes it's instinctive for coalition governments to want to make industrial relations an election issue.

"A few decades ago that might have favoured the coalition, these days it would probably favour Labor," he said.

And big business responding to Laundy's call to arms may not pay dividends either.

"They have done it before and it didn't really work really well," Prof Peetz said.

"Their ads in 2007 didn't really achieve much, even though they were targeting that union message."

Change The Rules' impact is hard to predict, but the round one bell has rung and both sides have come out swinging.