Unions in New Zealand Call on Government to Ratify Convention 87

Abstract

TOWARDS UNIVERSAL RATIFICATION OF C87 AND 98 23 26/3 | International Union Rights | Nick Henry has been a Policy Analyst at the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions for two years. Previously he worked as a lecturer in International Relations in New Zealand and Australia and holds a PhD from Victoria University of Wellington. His book on the regional governance of migration, Asylum, Work and Precarity: Bordering the AsiaPacific was published by Palgrave in 2017 Despite a proud record of support for the International Labour Organisation (ILO), New Zealand is yet to sign one of the most important of the core labour rights conventions, Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (C87). Unions in New Zealand are calling on our government to put this right. The New Zealand Government, along with our unions and business associations, are rightly proud of our hundred-year record of tripartite support for the ILO, since joining as founding members in 1919. The Constitution of the ILO recognises freedom of association as a ‘fundamental principle’ and as a requirement of social justice. Supported by the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the ILO Governing Body has designated two conventions related to freedom of association as fundamental, meaning that all ILO members are required to respect, uphold and promote their principles. These are Convention 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949), which New Zealand ratified in 2003, and C87 (1948), which New Zealand has yet to ratify. New Zealand’s delegates to the centenary International Labour Conference (ILC) in June 2019 voted to adopt the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, which states: ‘All Members should work towards the ratification and implementation of the ILO fundamental Conventions and periodically consider, in consultation with employers’ and workers’ organizations, the ratification of other ILO standards’. New Zealand also supported the Bali Declaration of the 2016 Asia-Pacific regional meeting of the ILO, which declared ratification and implementation of C87 to be ‘policy priorities for member States in the region, to be implemented in consultation with the social partners’. New Zealand’s failure to ratify C87 is out of step with our international commitments and our longstanding support for the ILO and fundamental labour rights. In a quirk of history, New Zealanders played a key role in drafting C87. Back in 1948, the New Zealand government delegate to the 31st session of the ILC was elected as chair of the convention drafting committee, where he was joined by the delegates representing New Zealand unions and employers. The New Zealanders voted unanimously in favour of the convention they had helped to draft. The government delegates considered whether aspects of New Zealand law at the time were out of step with the requirements of C87, but reported back to Wellington their view that: ‘[T]he Convention was not intended to be a “code of regulations” for the right to organize, but rather a concise statement of certain fundamental principles, and that States would remain free to provide such formalities in their legislation as appeared appropriate to ensure the normal functioning of industrial organizations […] provided that such legislation did not impair the guarantees granted by the Convention’. This was good advice, which remains relevant today. The goal of ILO Conventions is clearly to influence national laws, by promoting convergence with international labour standards. But ILO Conventions do not over-ride national law and it is up to sovereign governments to decide how they implement their obligations and at what pace they achieve convergence with international norms. But the New Zealand government of 1948 chose to ignore the advice of their own delegation and failed to progress ratification of C87. If the concern was that New Zealand’s Industrial Relations law at the time included regulations on formation of unions and elements of compulsory unionism, these approaches were in common with other countries that ratified the Convention, including Australia and the UK. Over time, the reasons given by New Zealand governments and officials for non-ratification of C87 have changed. In 2019, the New Zealand Government will report to the ILO that it is unable to ratify C87 due...