VZCZCXRO9300
RR RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHPOD
DE RUEHBY #0098/01 0400352
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 090352Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2635
INFO RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 5230
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE 6963
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 5242
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0002

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000098 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USTR/CROMERO; DOL/TWEDDING 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ECON ETRD AS
SUBJECT: MONITORING LABOR RIGHTS UNDER AUSTRALIA'S FREE 
TRADE AGREEMENT 
 
REF: STATE 129631 
 
CANBERRA 00000098  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:  Australia provides strong protections for 
workers which meet internationally-recognized standards and 
its obligations under the U.S.-Australia Free Trade 
Agreement.  Australia is a member of the International Labor 
Organization (ILO).  The current Labor government has 
strengthened rights for domestic and foreign workers. 
Organized labor is generally satisfied with existing labor 
laws.  END SUMMARY. 
 
RECENT LAW CHANGES 
------------------ 
 
¶2.  (U) Australia's labor laws provide a strong safety net 
for workers and relatively generous welfare payments.  For 
the last 25 years, successive governments, both Labor and 
Liberal have made the labor market more flexible while union 
coverage has fallen from around 50 to 19 percent.  The 
previous Liberal government's controversial WorkChoices 
reforms, introduced in March 2006, included: 
 
-- removing penalty rates and overtime as minimum standards 
applying to new agreements; 
-- abolishing the "no disadvantage test" protecting workers 
signing individual agreements from being worse off compared 
to the industry standard or "award" (conditions such as 
penalty rates and overtime); 
-- exempting businesses with under 100 employees from unfair 
dismissal laws; 
-- restricting what could be bargained in collective 
agreements; 
-- increasing employer control over union right of entry. 
 
¶3.  (U) The Rudd Labor government, which came to office in 
December 2007, pledged to abolish WorkChoices.  Its changes 
included: 
 
-- outlawing the signing of new individual agreements. 
However, businesses with staff on existing individual 
agreements were permitted to offer "temporary" individual 
agreements with an expiry date not beyond December 31, 2009 
provided they met the "no disadvantage test;" 
-- reinstating unfair dismissal rights for all workers; 
-- requiring employers to engage in "good faith" collective 
bargaining; 
-- access to compulsory arbitration for low-paid workers 
involved in collective bargaining; 
-- easing, but not eliminating, restrictions on union 
right-of-entry. 
 
ILO BREACHES? 
------------ 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Australia has been a member of the ILO since its 
inception, and is part of the Asia-Pacific Government Group 
of ILO members.  All major unions are affiliated with the 
governing Australian Labor Party and the umbrella union 
organization, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). 
Unions strongly welcomed the Rudd government's changes; the 
ACTU President said labor laws "on balance" met ILO 
standards.  However, some union officials claim aspects of 
labor laws, inherited from WorkChoices, may breach ILO 
standards.  These are: 
 
-- restrictions on what can be negotiated in an agreement; 
-- restrictions on union right-of-entry; 
-- restrictions on strike action (such as secondary boycotts, 
sympathy strikes and striking outside a mandated bargaining 
period); 
-- outlawing industrial action in favor of "pattern 
bargaining" (industry-wide negotiations); 
-- provisions which enable industrial action to be stopped if 
it threatens "to cause significant damage to the economy or 
part of it." 
 
¶5.  (U) Prior to the Fair Work Act commencing in July 2009, 
the ILO's 2009 "Committee of Experts on the Application of 
Conventions and Recommendations" report raised similar 
concerns about the possible breaches to ILO standards. 
 
U.S.-AUSTRALIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT 
QU.S.-AUSTRALIA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
CANBERRA 00000098  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶6.  (U) The U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement, effective 
since 2005, obliges both parties to ensure labor laws "are 
consistent with "internationally-recognized labor 
principles."  Australian law: 
 
-- protects right of association:  discrimination on the 
basis of membership or non-membership of a union is illegal; 
-- provides right to organize and bargain collectively: 
however, strikes are confined to a bargaining period; the law 
subjects strikers to penalties for taking industrial action 
during the life of an agreement.  Strikes must be authorized 
by secret ballot; 
-- prohibits use of any form of forced or compulsory labor; 
-- effectively prevents children from joining the work force 
full time until they are age 16 or 17 by compulsory 
educational requirements; 
-- bans discrimination on the basis of race, gender, 
religious belief and sexuality; 
-- mandates minimum wages (the federal minimum wage is 
currently around USD 12.85 per hour), a 38 hour week 
(allowing reasonable additional hours), and occupational 
health and safety standards. 
 
FOREIGN WORKERS 
--------------- 
 
¶7.  (U) In 2009, the government made changes to the uncapped 
visa program covering employer-sponsored temporary foreign 
workers (457 visa program).  Welcomed by unions, these 
included introducing market based minimum salaries for all 
new and existing 457 visa holders; developing minimum skills 
requirements that meet Australian standards; requiring visa 
sponsors to have a strong record of, or demonstrated 
commitment to, employing local labor and non-discriminatory 
employment practices; and increasing the minimum English 
language requirements. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) COMMENT:  Although union membership has fallen 
significantly over the last two decades, Australian society 
still prides itself on a certain amount of egalitarianism and 
a strong government role.  Driven by a relatively powerful 
union movement, under a union-friendly Labor government, 
Australia has made great strides in enhancing workers rights. 
 The general view among the Rudd government, the general 
public, and the unions, is that Australian labor laws now 
afford better protections for workers.  The general view 
among the business community and members of the Opposition, 
however, is that the gains in productivity and 
competitiveness made under the previous Liberal government's 
WorkChoices framework, often described as "U.S.-style" labor 
laws, have been jeopardized by recent "pro-union" changes. 
END COMMENT. 
BLEICH