GOA AND UNIONS TAKE THEIR FIGHT TO THE ILO

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 001433

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR DRL/IL and IO/S GEORGE ABRAHAMS
STATE ALSO FOR IO/T RICK DRISCOLL
GENEVA FOR CHARLES STONECIPHER

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ELAB KTDB AS
SUBJECT: GOA AND UNIONS TAKE THEIR FIGHT TO THE ILO

REF: CANBERRA 1205 and previous

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.

Summary
--------------

1. (SBU) Australia's union leaders have gone overseas to
seek guidance from their counterparts in the U.S. and
elsewhere to strengthen their campaign against the Howard
Government's proposed labor law reforms. The Government of
Australia (GOA),meanwhile, has restarted its regional labor
diplomacy efforts after a long hiatus and was elected in
June to the International Labor Organization's (ILO)
Governing Council, the International Labor Council (ILC).
The ILC seat should serve Australia well as the GOA seeks to
promote its international labor agenda and to defend itself
against criticism of its domestic labor reform plans
(reftel). End summary.

ACTU/GOA Fight Goes Global
--------------

2. (SBU) Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) President
Sharan Burrow (protect) told CG Melbourne on August 22 that
the ACTU had been consulting organized labor overseas for
advice on countering the Howard Government's proposed labor
law reforms. The ACTU's domestic political allies, the
Australian Labor Party and other opposition parties, lost
the power to block Government legislation on August 9 when
the Coalition took control of both houses of Parliament.
Having lost their protector in Parliament, Australian unions
have begun taking their complaints abroad to organizations
such as the ILO in an effort to bring international pressure
to bear on the Howard Government.


3. (SBU) Burrow, who also heads the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions' Asia-Pacific Regional
Organization and was recently re-elected to the ILO's
Tripartite Governing Body as the Asia-Pacific delegate, is
well placed to stoke international concern about the
Coalition's alleged "anti-worker" agenda. In June, Burrow
added a preemptive complaint against the GOA's upcoming
labor reform bill to a series of existing complaints the
ACTU had already lodged with the ILO Committee of Experts on
the Application of Treaties. The Committee has deferred its
consideration of the new complaint to September when it
expects the GOA to have released the details of its proposed
legislative package.

Government Revives Labor Diplomacy
--------------

4. (SBU) Department of Employment and Workplace Relations'
Director of International [labor] Affairs Scott Evans
(protect) told us on August 17 that the Government had
expected to face increased scrutiny from various ILO expert
committees following complaints from the ACTU and individual
unions. According to Evans, in the past year the GOA had
revived its traditional labor diplomacy objective of
promoting higher labor standards in Asia and the Pacific,
and had managed to garner support for its re-election to the
ILC after a nine-year absence. Evans argued that the
Coalition's re-engagement with the ILO was "an extension" of
its post-9/11 foreign policy objective of exerting a
positive, democratic influence in the region. In April,
Evans noted, the GOA had hosted the ILO's Second Southeast
Asia and Pacific Sub-Regional Tripartite Forum on Decent
Work. After the meeting, Evans was tasked with delivering
on the GOA's commitment to develop a regional occupational
health and safety inspection training program. A former
Australian diplomat, Evans was enthusiastic about the GOA's
re-emerging interest in labor diplomacy and his advising
role on Australia's obligations under ILO treaties.

Comment
--------------

5. (SBU) The GOA's reengagement with the ILO, its seat on
the ILC, and its effort to improve labor standards in the
region are all welcome developments. It is too early to
tell, however, if the Howard Government's renewed interest
in labor diplomacy is principally about advancing the
international labor agenda of Australia and like-minded
countries, or if it has more to do with the GOA defending
itself against the expected raft of union complaints brought
before the ILO. End Comment.
STANTON