As the peak union body for Australia, the ACTU participates in a range of international forums on behalf of unions and Australian workers, including the International Labour Organisation and the International Trade Union Confederation.
Australian unions are also active players in the global union movement, joining international campaigns and solidarity actions on a regular basis.
In this section, you will find statements by the ACTU on international issues, details of current international campaigns, and news from around the world.
March 10, 2021
ACTU has joined with international aid groups, health organisations and church organisations to call on the Australian Government to support the proposal currently before the World Trade Organisation to allow a temporary waiver of some intellectual property rights on COVID-19 vaccines and related supplies.
Many developing countries will not have widespread access to COVID-19 vaccines until 2023 – a waiver is urgently needed to ramp up vaccine production and enable all countries affordable and timely access to COVID-19 vaccines.
February 27, 2021
Woodside bow to pressure from Australian unions and civil society and suspend Myanmar operations
February 26, 2021
The ACTU and civil society groups have written to the Chair of Woodside’s board regarding their business activities in Myanmar following the military coup.
February 15, 2021
The Australian Union movement is extremely concerned about the detention of Dr. Sean Turnell in Myanmar. Dr. Turnell is an active member of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and well-respected academic at Macquarie University.
The ACTU stands with the NTEU and is supporting their efforts to bring Dr. Turnell home to his family.
February 10, 2021
The ACTU has written to the Philippines Government condemning the murder of another trade unionist – over 50 union members and leaders have been killed by extra-judicial violence under the Duterte regime.
Leonardo Escala was the president of the union for dock workers in Manila. The ACTU calls for a full investigation into his murder to bring the perpetrators to account, and for the Philippines Government to accept the ILO high-level tripartite mission to investigate violence against trade unionists.
The Australian union movement stands in solidarity with unions in the Philippines and will continue to campaign for justice for Filipino unionists.
February 5, 2021
The undersigned demand the:
* immediate release of all Saharawi political prisoners in Moroccan jails and the end the repression of Saharawi population in the occupied areas;
* the withdrawal of the Moroccan occupying troops and the dismantling of the military berm (wall) erected by Morocco;
* end of the illegal plunder of the Saharawi natural resources.
February 5, 2021
ACTU President Michele O’Neil has written to Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne urging Australia to take strong action in response to the military coup in Myanmar
February 3, 2021
The ACTU joins with Australian civil society groups in denouncing the military coup in Myanmar which has suspended civilian government and effectively returned full power to the military.
We stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar and their civil society organisations, trade unions, journalists, and human rights activists in their defence of democracy, human rights and peace.
January 8, 2021
The ACTU condemns the arrest of Carol Ng, the Chairperson of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), along with 52 other prominent pro-democracy activists, on 6 January 2021.
