Quick Fact:

Australian unions have a record of support for unionists under attack in countries as diverse as Columbia, where unionists are regularly assassinated, and Zimbabwe where the union movement is the core of the democratic opposition to Mugabe. In the Asia-Pacific region, Australian unions in their international work face the problems of the use of slave labour and the ban on unionism in Burma ...

Congress 2000

1. At Congress 2000 a policy was adopted entitled Globalisation and Labour Rights. The policy opened by stating that the ACTU will:

... give priority to the development of independent, democratic and effective trade unions in our region; building international solidarity; the defence of human rights; the provision of humanitarian assistance; building on our participation in international bodies such as ICFTU and the ILO; and the encouragement to affiliates to incorporate a higher level of international effort and understanding in their organising and industrial strategies.

2. The policy sought to deal with the issues of globalisation and in so doing made this observation:

... globalisation and its associated elements of trade liberalisation, technological change, financial and labour market deregulation and the development of a huge speculative capital market are placing serious pressures on the ability of national economies to act independently and to balance the increasing gulf between winners and losers. In many countries there is downward pressure on living standards, reduced government services, job losses and efforts to deny workers fundamental rights as governments are forced to compete with each other through the lowering of standards.

3. The policy, in some detail, went on to deal with:

• globalisation and labour rights;

• international campaigning;

• trade union development;

• the defence of human and trade union rights;

• the promotion of humanitarian and development assistance;

• the ACTU and unions working with other institutions;

• peace and disarmament;

• the support and promotion of APHEDA - Union Aid Abroad; and

• the broadening of Australia’s international involvement.

Developments Since Congress 2000 (And In Recent Times)

Aid and Development

4. Australia continues to fall short of the standard of commitments required to make progress towards an internationally just community. Australia’s aid and development budget continues to decline and no effort is made through the Commonwealth’s participation in regional and global trade or financial forums to promote the ILO’s Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

5. A welcome step by the Federal Government was its decision to permit tariff free entry of goods from all Least Developed Countries. Nevertheless, the ACTU and its affiliates need to support community organisations in campaigning for the Australian Government to commit at least 0.7% of GNP to overseas aid and development assistance, as called for by the United Nations.

Terrorism, Peace and Disarmament

6. Twenty-five years ago, the UN convened the first Special Session of the General Assembly on Disarmament. While much has been achieved, the world continues to be littered with conflict, terrorism and war. Nations continue to budget for war ($1.4 million a minute in 2000) and armaments companies profit, but it is workers and their families who constitute the obscene ‘collateral damage’. Weapons of mass destruction have proliferated, and the major powers have kept their massive stockpiles. Land mines and cluster bombs continue to be used, and injure and kill civilians long after the end of the wars in which they were deployed. There is a new generation of conventional weapons in terms of both accuracy of delivery and destructive power.

7. In the wake of the end of the Cold War terrorism has reached an unprecedented scale. Directed against populations and communities and aimed at a maximum loss of life, terrorism has generated a new level of uncertainty and fear. It can never be excused or rationalised but it warrants a broader response than the doctrine of asymmetrical warfare and changes in military structure to improve counter-terrorism operations.

8. Australian unions have already demonstrated the strength of their commitment to peace through their participation in the demonstrations against the invasion of Iraq. The actions of the US, the UK, and Australia have undermined the authority of the UN and recent statements by Donald Rumsfeld about a global US-led peace-keeping force, and remarks by Howard, and Downer, provide further impetus towards unilateralism in international affairs. Even an Australian intervention in the Solomon Islands, predicated upon a request of that country’s government and supported by South Pacific nations generally, is being misrepresented to support the unilateralist trend. A useful step to arrest this trend would be the replacement of US weapons inspectors with UN teams, as part of a broader transfer of power in Iraq from the US to the UN.

An Independent Foreign Policy

9. The proposals by Ministers in the Federal Government for a revision of our defence doctrine and military force structure away from an emphasis upon mainland and regional defence, and towards operating in coalition with US forces on a broader scale, has revived the concern about Australia acting as a deputy sheriff. This hampers Australia’s ability to play an honest broker role in regional conflicts at a time of tensions over the actions of North Korea, US unilateralism, and Japanese discussions of the importance of a first strike capability. Australia has a security interest in preventing both nuclear proliferation in the region and a resumption of the conventional arms build-up that was interrupted by the Asian financial crisis. A regional arms limitation agreement is an option worth pursuing.

Global Movement of People

10. It is worth noting that international trade union organisations have commenced a discussion on the issues of the global movement of people. The discussion is partly in response to the refugee crisis, but also encompasses the impact of the immigration policies of OECD nations upon developing countries, and the movement of labour generally.

11. The ACTU Executive has carried resolutions opposing mandatory detention, the denial of permanent settlement rights to asylum-seekers granted refugee status, and the Federal Government’s so-called Pacific Solution policy of transporting asylum-seekers to neighbouring countries. Other issues connected with the global movement of people will be a priority for future policy development.

Issues For Policy At Congress 2003

Campaigning for Human and Trade Union Rights

12. Unity and solidarity are at the core of union life and action both at a national and an international level. Australian unions have a record of support for unionists under attack in countries as diverse as Columbia, where unionists are regularly assassinated, and Zimbabwe where the union movement is the core of the democratic opposition to Mugabe. In the Asia-Pacific region, Australian unions in their international work face the problems of the use of slave labour and the ban on unionism in Burma, repression in China against advocates of independent unions, and the effective denial of union and labour rights in export processing zones in other countries. Political corruption, inadequate resources for enforcement of labour rights, and slow and ineffective judicial processes also serve to undermine unionism and the rights of workers, despite formal government ratification of ILO Conventions.

13. Unions in the Asia-Pacific region are confronted with a critical and uncertain future. The challenges to workers and their union are formidable. They are:

• attacked and harassed by governments determined to destroy them;

• undermined by World Bank and IMF policies and programmes;

• frequently out-manoeuvred by resources of transnational companies; and

• too frequently without strategic, properly resourced plans and programmes to recruit, organise and campaign.

Multiplicity of national union centres, inept leadership, a corrupt judicial system which denies workers protection, the inability of the union movement to mobilise all of its resources whether at a national, a regional or an ICFTU level and the continued, well resourced attack on any move to organise by national and transnational companies results in a very precarious union movement in the region.

14. In many countries in the region there are no independent trade unions, though individuals and groups of workers are advocating their formation. There are also signs of some office-bearers of official trade unions reconsidering the role of their organisations in light of the impact of market-oriented reforms on individual firms and particular economic sectors. But the rising economic and industrial force in the region is China, where all attempts to form free and independent unions are attacked and repressed. A union strategy of solidarity with workers in China must include:

• support for the monitoring and exposure of attempts to prevent workers from organising, with a major role being played by the ICFTU centre in Hong Kong;

• support and representations on behalf of workers who are imprisoned simply because they protest or organise an independent union; and

• continued dialogue with the delegations from China visiting the ACTU.

15. Strong, independent, inclusive, and democratic unions are the key institutions which will promote and defend of the rights of workers and their families at the local and national level, and will stand against the power of transnational companies and international trade and financial institutions with demands for equity, justice and a fair trade regime. The ACTU is committed to supporting such unions internationally, and particularly to union development on this basis within our region.

16. Despite the obstacles, there are opportunities for the ACTU and its affiliates to work towards achieving our objectives. The ILO, with workers as one of the tripartite social partners, provides workers and unions with both the means to develop and strengthen the regime of conventions and recommendations to protect workers, and a process by which unions are able to complain, expose and correct breaches of these fundamental rights with. Australian unions and the international union movement can also use other institutions, measures and instruments such as individual sector codes of conduct, the UN Global Compact, the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Corporation, and shareholder actions. The increasing role of Australian Parliamentary Committee processes, whether specific inquiries such as that into Australia’s relationship with Indonesia, or the requirement that all treaties be referred to the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, provides further opportunities for unions to promote the rights of workers, and ensure the voice of unions is heard on international issues.

17. The most effective model of unionism internationally is one that reaches out to all workers and tackles divisions based on race, gender, and sexuality. The ACTU and Australian unions have promoted inclusive and representative unionism through support for international campaigns to uphold the rights of women workers, and to combat anti-semitism, racism, and discrimination against gay and lesbian workers.

18. In assisting the development of unions in our region the ACTU will continue to work with other national union centres and their affiliates, and with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, ICFTU – Asia Pacific Regional Organisation, the South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions, and the Global Union Federations.

Aid and Development

19. The union movement should also continue to support the campaign for international debt relief for impoverished developing countries.

20. Non-government, not for profit aid and development agencies are effective, efficient, and have a long-term commitment to the development of relationships with those whom they are assisting. Their administration and programmes are transparent and accountable. Yet there is a trend towards moving development aid through commercial, for profit companies that are not transparent in their administration or activities. The Australian Government should allocate at least 10% of its overseas aid budget through accredited Australian international development NGOs. It should also increase aid to the South Pacific where communities are confronted with the special challenge of small populations spread over a vast geographical area. Two South Pacific nations are listed in the top ten of global money laundering operators, and there is a developing HIV health crisis in this part of the region.

21. The ACTU notes the constructive work of Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA in implementing the Australian union movement’s commitment to social justice and international solidarity for human rights and development. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA’s programs support trade union development, education, vocational training and other development projects, in partnership with workers and their communities in countries where rights to justice, core labour standards and development are restricted or denied. Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA has expanded programs to assist trade unions in East Timor, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, Cambodia, the Philippines, South Africa, Zimbabwe and in exiled Burmese communities. These include:

• Assisting the formation of trade unions through the Konfederasaun Sindicatu Timor Lorosa'e (KSTL) in East Timor, and garment workers in Cambodia.

• Assisting trade union training in Bandung, Indonesia, and occupational health and safety and gender training for unions in Vietnam.

• Vocational, health and human rights and workers’ rights programs for trade unions in exile on the Thai-Burma border.

• Assisting trade unions to provide HIV/AIDS training to better serve a crucial need of their members, especially with COSATU in South Africa, the ZCTU in Zimbabwe, the PNG trade union movement, and for unions in the garment industry in Cambodia and workers in the Philippines about to undertake contract work abroad.

22. The ACTU must:

• continue to provide core funding to Union Aid Abroad –APHEDA;

• promote Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA to all affiliates;

• continue to work actively to support Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA projects in the region including such initiatives as overseas study tours for union members; and

• support greater public resources being made available for Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA projects.

Terrorism, Peace and Disarmament

23. Peace is union business and the ACTU is committed to promoting alternative means of resolving conflict, to urging the Australian Government to develop strategic programmes and budgets to respond to the root cause of conflict, and to co-operating with peace, development and human rights organisations in supporting and defending the authority of the UN.

24. The ACTU believes that the fundamental pillars of peace and disarmament include:

• an international treaty based regime which provides for the cessation of the production and possession of weapons of mass destruction, the exporting of small arms to conflict zones (in 2001, 1,000 deaths a day were due to the use of small arms in conflict), and of the use of weapons such as land mines and cluster bombs;

• a revitalised UN with increased resources; and

• a renewed political will and determination by governments, and in particular a decision by the US to refrain from the deployment of continental missile shield systems and from further development of tactical nuclear weapons.

25. The Secretary-General of the UN has affirmed the critical role of civil society in the promotion of peace and disarmament. Unions will play their part in mobilising public opinion and campaigning for all political parties and their leaders to act with determination to promote peace and disarmament. The ACTU continues to urge the Federal Government to:

• develop, in consultation with state governments, parent, youth and teacher organisations, peace education resources and programmes for use in the education system;

• provide leadership within the UN in promoting the implementation of the core conventions on peace and disarmament;

• use its special relationship with the US to demand that it lead by example in accepting inspections of facilities for the production and storage of weapons of mass destruction, complying with arms limitation agreements, and initiating disarmament;

• increase its aid and development budgets which can make a meaningful impact on the root causes of terrorism and conflict; and

• help strengthen, without violating civil liberties, the national and international legal and financial system in order to ensure that those who engage in the illegal weapons trade, the support of terrorist activities, or crimes against humanity, are held accountable.

An Independent Foreign Policy

26. Australia needs a more independent foreign policy that recognizes the priority of relations with the nations in our region. Such a policy should be complemented by a trade policy focused upon multilateral outcomes that do not discriminate between our Asian and North American trading partners rather than the extension of the military alliance through a Free Trade Agreement with the US.

27. Recognition of the priority of relations with countries in the region does not require the abandonment of the aim of promoting human rights and democratic reform. A stable, democratic Indonesia - a key objective of Australian foreign policy - would be strengthened by the resumption of negotiations in Aceh, and by the transition of the Indonesian army, the TNI, to a professional army that is not dependent upon business activities for its finances. The restoration of democracy in Burma should also be supported, without further recourse to the failed policy of engagement with the regime. In the South Pacific, Australian programmes to strengthen internal governance, regional economic and political arrangements, and civil society institutions, particularly ones established on a multi-ethnic basis, would be consistent with both our support for democracy and development and our interest in stability.

Global Movement of People

28. The World Bank has highlighted the impact on economic and social capacity in developing countries of the extent of the movement of their graduates and professionals in health and other crucial fields to industrialised nations. The worst case cited by the Bank is the recurring loss of 77% of Jamaica’s university graduates to the US, with US companies offering employment to final year students. Less dramatic but still significant losses of key professionals or skilled workers from developing countries may occur as OECD nations seek to fill labour shortages in particular areas.

29. On the other hand, unskilled workers from developing countries move to OECD countries or more industrialised developing countries in search of a better standard of living. This type of movement may be in the form of registered guest workers or illegal immigrants, involve whole families or one person who continues to support a family back in the home country. Such workers are vulnerable to economic and often also sexual exploitation, and can be deported at short notice as a host country government responds to an economic crisis.

More Information and Discussion

• Read the International policy.
• Contribute to a discussion group about the ACTU's International policy for Congress 2003