More than a quarter of nations represented at the Commonwealth leaders' meeting in Perth have failed to allow basic industrial rights for workers, the ACTU says
ACTU President Ged Kearney said a survey by the Commonwealth Trade Union Group (CTUG) showed the worst abuses of workers' rights were occurring in Fiji and Swaziland.
Fiji remains a suspended member and is not represented at the three-day Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which starts on Friday.
Ms Kearney said on Wednesday that the CTUG, representing over 30 million workers in 30 countries, was calling on CHOGM to also suspend Swaziland for wholesale violations of democratic rights.
It was also asking the United Nations to stop using Fijian soldiers as peacekeepers and condemn the Fijian military regime's Essential Industries Decree that disadvantages workers.
"It is becoming increasingly unsafe for workers in Fiji to stand up for their rights, and we need more international pressure to stop further erosion of constitutional rights in Fiji," Ms Kearney said.
"The Commonwealth prides itself as a organisation that supports democracy and human rights but this survey shows many countries are falling short."
Ms Kearney said 14 commonwealth countries had failed to ratify at least one of the eight core International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions.
She said India had not ratified the child labour conventions or the conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Even Australia, New Zealand and Canada had not ratified one of the two conventions on child labour, Ms Kearney said.
In Malaysia the government was taking away workers' rights to unionise by classing more workers as self-employed while in Malawi and Zimbabwe, union officials were subject to government persecution, she said.
