Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

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 (WR Act), 1996. Right to draw up constitutions and rules. The Committee recalls that its previous comments concerned the need to amend sections 298R and 298U of the WR Act concerning the issue of disciplining members, so as to avoid any interference which would restrict the right of workers’ organizations freely to draw up their constitutions and rules.

The Committee notes that, according to the Government, these provisions serve to protect members of industrial associations from adverse action by the industrial association or by an officer or another member, and empower the Federal Court to make various orders for breaches of Part XA of the WR Act. Thus, they are vested with the protections afforded by a judicial process. The rules of industrial associations must be consistent with the protections afforded by these provisions. Moreover, these sections do not otherwise restrict an industrial association from independently disciplining a member for engaging in prohibited conduct of the kind proscribed by section 298R. There have been moreover no reported cases concerning the practical application of this section.

The Committee once again notes that the issue of disciplining members should be up to trade union members themselves to decide on the basis of the rules that they have freely drawn up and requests the Government to amend sections 298R and 298U of the WR Act accordingly.

State jurisdictions

New South Wales. The Committee recalls that in its previous comments it requested the Government to amend 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. Noting from the Government’s report that the New South Wales Government will consider the concerns of the Committee in any future review of the Industrial Relations Act, 1996, the Committee once again requests the Government to keep it informed of any measures taken or contemplated with a view to ensuring that any prohibition of the right to strike and related penalties are limited to essential services in the strict sense of the term and to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State.

Western Australia. The Committee notes with interest from the Government’s report that the reforms to the Western Australian labour relations system have been operational since 15 September 2002 and are working well in practice. In particular, Western Australian trade unions are now able to operate without undue interference in their internal affairs and may engage in industrial action without unworkable and unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions.

The Committee recalls that in its previous comments it had also raised the issue of provisions which stipulate that workers’ memberships in a trade union end if their subscriptions are not paid. The Committee notes that there is no information in this respect in the Government’s report. The Committee once again requests the Government to keep it informed of any measures taken or contemplated so as to leave the issues of membership and subscriptions to the rules of the organizations concerned.