Where "Green Ban" Comes From
A green ban is a union boycott that refuses to work on projects that would damage the environment or destroy heritage buildings — a deliberate step up from an ordinary industrial dispute, or “black ban,” which is about pay and conditions rather than the site itself.
The term was coined by NSW Builders Labourers' Federation leader Jack Mundey in 1973, but the very first green ban actually happened two years earlier, in 1971, when construction workers refused to bulldoze Kelly's Bush in Sydney after local residents asked the union for help. The tactic spread across Sydney through the 1970s and has since influenced environmental and heritage movements internationally.
The union placed a green ban on the site to stop the historic terraces being demolished.
How Aussies Actually Use It
Mostly used today to talk about union and environmental history rather than as everyday slang.
Still invoked whenever a union or community group threatens to block work on an environmentally or historically sensitive site.
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