International

The Council of Trade Unions today joined international unions in calling for an end to the intimidation and oppression of union and democracy campaigners in Zimbabwe, as conditions in the country worsened.

The President of the CTU Helen Kelly and the Director of the New Zealand Office of the National Council for the Union of Burma, Naing Ko Ko today jointly called on New Zealanders to give generously to Burma cyclone relief.

“South African dock workers should be congratulated for preventing arms getting to the Mugabe regime and their stand shows the crucial role unions play internationally in protecting human rights,” CTU president Helen Kelly said today.

The Council of Trade Unions has backed the campaign by the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) to free an Iranian unionist and bus driver jailed for standing up for worker and union rights.

“In voting out the Howard government, Australian workers and their families sent a strong signal that their rights at work are not up for grabs,” CTU president Helen Kelly said today.

“The brave act of people power on the streets of Burma gives hope for democracy in Burma, but their efforts must be supported by the global community,” Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

The Council of Trade Unions is marking the birthday of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi with a screening in Wellington tonight of the recent documentary Burma’s Secret War.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was democratically elected as Prime Minister of Burma in the early 1990s but remains under house arrest.  Her home detention was recently extended for a further year by the military dictatorship.

Speech to 96th ILO Conference, Geneva, June 15 2007
 
Laila Harré
Worker substitute delegate, New Zealand.

I will begin my contribution this morning with a short traditional Maori greeting that acknowledges the diversity and unity of those here.

“By passing the further WorkChoices amendments to its Workplace Relations Act the Australian Government has seriously compounded its breaches of Convention 98 on the right to organise and collective bargaining,” New Zealand Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson told the International Labour Organisation conference in Geneva yesterday.

“The Council of Trade Unions is seeking the support of the United Nations International Labour Organisation to ensure the safety of trade unionist Dennis Maga when he returns to the Philippines,” CTU secretary Carol Beaumont said today.