The Electrical Trades Union said it has commenced Federal Court proceedings after Ausgrid continued to outsource responsibilities.
"The ETU is genuinely concerned Ausgrid is showing a total disregard for safety and its obligations in relation to consultation with its employees," a union spokeswomen said.
Ausgrid is the largest electricity distributor on Australia's east coast.
The electrical union is seeking court-ordered penalties against the distributor, which is accused of breaching its enterprise agreement.
A lawsuit filed in late March claims Ausgrid failed to provide a complete list of contractors to union representatives at five outsourcing consultation forums held from May 2025 to February 2026.
Ausgrid denied it had to release an exhaustive list of all contractors beyond those engaged directly by the company, court documents filed by the union stated.
A second suit filed in April accuses Ausgrid of hiring contractors, without  holding an outsourcing consultation forum at all, for three separate projects between 2022 and 2025.
Instead, three firms - JDV Civil, Ultegra and JDG Civil - were engaged to install electrical cables in a number of Sydney CBD streets, court documents allege.
A spokeswoman from Ausgrid declined to comment on the lawsuits, other than to say it would file defences.
"What we can say is that Ausgrid has a robust enterprise agreement in place and is abiding by the terms of that agreement," she said.
The two cases will return to court in June.
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