‘With the World Trade Organisation General Council assessing Australia's trade policies this week in Geneva, a new ITUC report highlights the negative impacts on the country's workforce of the Government's industrial relations laws, which impose heavy restrictions on internationally-recognised labour standards.

The report strongly criticises the Australian Government's industrial relations laws ("WorkChoices" Act), which makes Australia the only developed country where employers can refuse to negotiate with a union even when employees are union members and want their union to represent them. The report documents the severe legal limits that are imposed on the basic rights of Australian workers to organise in trade unions and the strict restrictions the laws place on the items that can be included in collective bargaining, in violation of International Labour Organisation standards which Australia has ratified. The report also cites recent evidence in Australia of women's incomes falling behind the cost of living since the introduction of the new laws and an increasing gap between the wages of male and female workers in Australia.

"The Australian government is wrong to claim that imposing these restrictions on fundamental rights is needed to compete in the global economy. In fact, other industrialised countries are focusing on investing in skills and productive capacity as well as improving national infrastructure rather than attempting to compete with low-wage, industrialising nations," said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.

"This report shows that Australia's pledges to the World Trade Organisation that it will uphold international labour standards are not being fulfilled," he added.’

Australia Slammed Over Workers' Rights