Union boss a staunch defender of human rights on world stage

Throughout her stellar career in unions, Sharan Burrow has fought for social rights in Australia and internationally.

Sharan Burrow has been awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia for her service industrial relations and for being a human rights advocate.

Sharan Burrow, the former Australian Education Union president who became the second female ACTU president before rising to be general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, has been awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia for service to national and international industrial relations, to social equity, and for being a champion of human rights in developing countries.

“I was quite shocked because literally I am incredibly privileged to get paid for the honour of standing with and for people who stand up against injustice every day and risk more often than not their very lives as well as their livelihood to do it,’’ she said from Paris where she was attending a meeting of G7 Labour Ministers.

EWIN HANNAN