US embassy cable - 05CANBERRA1433

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 
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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 
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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 
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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