Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135) - Australia (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report.

Federal jurisdiction

The Committee notes that after two draft bills on fair dismissals were laid aside due to disagreement between the Senate and the House in 2002 and 2003, a third Bill, the Workplace Relations Amendment (Fair Dismissal) Bill 2004 was introduced into the Senate on 30 August 2004; this Bill (just like the other two) seeks to protect small businesses from the costs and administrative burden of unfair dismissal claims by exempting small businesses with fewer than 20 employees from the unfair dismissal provisions in the Workplace Relations Act. The Committee recalls that Article 1 of the Convention requires effective protection for workers’ representatives in the undertaking against any prejudicial act without making any exception based on the size of the undertaking. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the provisions in the Workplace Relations Amendment (Fair Dismissal) Bill 2004 which ensure that workers’ representatives, in small undertakings, shall continue to enjoy effective protection against acts of anti-union discrimination including dismissal.

The Committee notes that the Workplace Relations Amendment (Prohibition of Compulsory Union Fees) Act 2003 (No. 20 of 2003) amended the Workplace Relations Act to prevent collective agreements from containing provisions which require the payment of bargaining service fees to a trade union which is a party to the agreement and prohibits conduct designed to force the payment of such fees. Recalling that Article 2 requires that facilities in the undertaking are afforded to workers’ representatives in order to enable them to carry out their functions promptly and efficiently, the Committee considers that the parties to collective bargaining should be allowed to determine freely the issue of bargaining service fees. The Committee further refers the Government to its comments on this point made in a direct request under Convention No. 98.

South Australia. The Committee notes that the South Australian Government recently released the Industrial Law Reform (Fair Work) Bill 2004 to amend the Industrial and Employees Relations Act 1994; the Government is currently considering comments by key stakeholders before the Bill’s introduction to Parliament. The Committee also notes that the Bill makes reference to the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the status of the Bill and to indicate in its next report the effect of the Bill’s provisions, if adopted, for the implementation of the Convention.