premise: They demanded a side agreement that Telstra said was illegal under workplace laws because it contained union - friendly prohibited content which did not require the approval of employees ... A union movement that has long opposed secret ballots is a movement that lacks fundamental confidence in its own relevance . What are they afraid of ? If union - negotiated agreements are superior , workers would be flocking to unions and unions would not need to worry about other non - union employment arrangements offered by employers . A secret ballot of employees would not be a hurdle to union success if they were offering what workers wanted . What might be a big issue that unions have ?
hypothesis: Unions opposed Telstra , a champion for workplace rights .