ILO backs ACTU on Howard IR law

SYDNEY — The International Labour Organisation has upheld an ACTU complaint that the Building and Construction Industry Improvement Act breaches ILO conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.

On November 21, the ILO governing body meeting in Geneva endorsed recommendations from its committee on freedom of association asking the Howard government to amend the laws.

ACTU president Sharan Burrow, who is a member of the ILO governing body — but, like other Australian members representing the government and employers, is not allowed to hear complaints against her own country — welcomed the decision as a vindication of union objections to the law.

CFMEU construction and general division national secretary John Sutton warned that major Australian construction companies such as Multiplex, Lend Lease and Baulderstone Hornibrook could miss out on overseas tenders because Australia was developing a reputation as a "pariah nation" regarding workers' rights under international law.

Kerry Smith

From Green Left Weekly, November 30, 2005.

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From GLW issue 651