Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Australia (Ratification: 1973)

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report.

Federal jurisdiction

The Workplace Relations Act, 1996. Right to draw up constitutions and rules. The Committee previously requested the Government to refrain from any interference which would restrict the right of workers’ organizations freely to draw up their constitutions and rules by leaving the issue of disciplining members to the rules of the organization and to amend sections 298R and 298U of the Act accordingly. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of developments in this respect.

State jurisdictions

New South Wales. As regards section 226(c) of the Industrial Relations Act, 1996 (which provides that the registration of an organization may be cancelled where it or its members engage in industrial action having a major and substantially adverse effect on the provision of any public service) the Committee notes that no union has had its registration cancelled on such grounds, and that the only two applications for cancellation were made by the organizations in question in respect of their own registration. The Committee recalls that prohibitions of the right to strike should be limited to essential services in the strict sense of the term and to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State. It therefore requests the Government to keep it informed of any measures taken or envisaged to amend this section so as to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

Western Australia. The Committee’s previous comments concerned interference in trade union affairs and restrictions on strikes. The Government indicates that it is not possible to provide any further details on the application in practice of the Labour Relations Reform Act at this time since it has only been fully operational since 15 September 2002. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the application of the Act in practice in future reports.