Sharan Burrow Quotes

Powerful Sharan Burrow for Daily Growth

About Sharan Burrow

Sharan Burrow is an eminent Australian labor leader and international women's rights advocate. Born on June 15, 1957, in Perth, Western Australia, Burrow grew up in a working-class family that instilled strong values of fairness, justice, and the importance of collective action. These early influences led her to become an active unionist at a young age. After completing a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Western Australia, Burrow joined the Australian Services Union (ASU) in 1980, where she rose through the ranks with dedication and tenacity. In 1993, she was elected as the National Secretary of the ASU, making her one of the few women to hold such a position within the Australian union movement at that time. In 2006, Burrow made history by becoming the first woman and the youngest person ever elected as the General Secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), a position she held until 2017. During her tenure, she successfully led campaigns for significant employment law reforms, fairer workplaces, and improved living standards for working Australians. In 2010, Burrow was elected as the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), becoming the first woman to hold this position. Under her leadership, the ITUC has been a powerful voice advocating for workers' rights, gender equality, and sustainable development on an international scale. Throughout her career, Sharan Burrow has been recognized for her exceptional contributions to labor and human rights. She was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2013 and was named one of the world's 100 most influential people by Time Magazine in 2014. Quotes by Sharan Burrow reflect her unwavering commitment to justice, fairness, and the empowerment of working people: "Trade unionism is not just about wages and conditions; it's about social justice." And "Women's rights are workers' rights, and workers' rights are women's rights." These words continue to inspire and guide those who follow in her footsteps.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Decent work is not a privilege, it's a right."

This quote by Sharan Burrow emphasizes that every individual deserves access to work opportunities that are dignified, equitable, and safe. In essence, it communicates the belief that employment should be a fundamental human right, not a privilege, ensuring fair treatment, decent wages, and secure working conditions for everyone, regardless of their socio-economic status or location. This perspective underscores the importance of advocating for policies and practices that promote social justice and uphold labor standards worldwide.

"The future of work lies in our hands; let us create it together."

This quote emphasizes the collective responsibility we have in shaping the future of employment. It suggests that rather than passively accepting whatever changes may come, we should actively participate in the process, collaborating to design a future work environment that benefits everyone. The message is one of unity, cooperation, and proactivity in addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by technological advancements, globalization, and shifting job markets.

"We must ensure that digitalization does not widen the gap between those who have and those who do not."

This quote emphasizes the need to prevent the digital revolution from exacerbating social inequality. As technology advances, there's a risk that only those who can afford it will reap its benefits, leaving others behind. To mitigate this, it's crucial for policies and practices to be in place that ensure equitable access to digital tools, resources, and opportunities, closing the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots'.

"Equality at work is about fairness, justice and dignity for all."

This quote by Sharan Burrow emphasizes that equality in the workplace is not just a matter of legal rights or privileges, but encompasses fundamental principles such as fairness, justice, and human dignity. It suggests that everyone, regardless of their background, should be treated equally, with respect, and have an opportunity to thrive in their work environment without bias or discrimination. This quote underscores the importance of creating a more inclusive and equitable society where all individuals can contribute to their full potential.

"When women's rights are respected, economies grow faster and societies are more stable and secure."

The quote underscores the profound impact that gender equality and women's rights have on societal progress and economic development. By respecting women's rights, we foster an environment where women can fully participate in society and contribute to its growth at equal levels with men. This leads to economies growing faster due to increased productivity and diversity of perspectives. Furthermore, stable societies are those where everyone feels secure, regardless of their gender, and this sense of security is bolstered by the recognition and empowerment of women. In essence, the quote highlights the interconnectedness of gender equality, economic growth, and societal stability, suggesting that investing in women's rights is not just a matter of justice but also one of smart economic policy.

Corporate greed, corporate bullying cannot be tolerated - it's time for a global rule of law to guarantee fair trade, rights, minimum wages on which people can live with dignity, and safe and secure work.

- Sharan Burrow

Guarantee, Rule, Tolerated, Global

The cycle of jobless youth, uncertainty about the future, depressing consumption, and weak investment and stresses on both the supply and demand side of economies are all thorns in the wheel of capitalism.

- Sharan Burrow

Wheel, Thorns, Side, Stresses

The corporate community understands the need for rules. Indeed, it argues for regulation to protect intellectual property, physical property rights, and contract law. So why does it oppose global regulation to protect people and the environment?

- Sharan Burrow

Law, Why, Need, Contract

Anyone who has lived in an area with high unemployment knows how it erodes social bonds, lowers the resilience of the unemployed and their families, and damages the prospects of the next generation.

- Sharan Burrow

Generation, Next, Area, Bonds

When corporations refuse to practice due diligence by not establishing grievance mechanisms for remedy of abuses against the hidden 94% of their workforce in their global supply chains, they perpetuate a depraved model of profit-making that has driven inequality to a level now seen as a global risk in itself.

- Sharan Burrow

Practice, Chains, Hidden, Remedy

Workers in Myanmar must have an effective remedy when their rights are violated.

- Sharan Burrow

Rights, Effective, Violated, Remedy

When minimum living wages, bargaining for fair wages, pensions, and job security are denied in too many countries, it is not rocket science to understand the drivers of inequality.

- Sharan Burrow

Living, Rocket, Bargaining, Rocket Science

Inequality is a poison that is destroying livelihoods, stripping families of dignity, and splitting communities.

- Sharan Burrow

Inequality, Splitting, Livelihood

Technological developments are changing the way we live, and there is much talk of digitalisation and the disruptive business models enabled by smart phones, tablets, computers, and the 'Internet of things.'

- Sharan Burrow

Phones, Models, Developments, Disruptive

Many governments and corporations take no moral responsibility for the enslavement of migrant workers and freely do business with states built on the back of slave labour. Illicit financial flows and tax evasion are ignored in the interests of some nations and their corporations, stripping the tax base that is so vital for essential services.

- Sharan Burrow

Financial, Back, Some, Vital

Stark inequality, poverty, and unemployment are driving increased social unrest and, consequently, social and economic risk. Environmental deterioration may well intensify social inequality.

- Sharan Burrow

Environmental, Increased, Unrest

Out of the fires of desperation burn hope and solidarity.

- Sharan Burrow

Burn, Desperation, Fires

We all need to work together, because there are no jobs on a dead planet; there is no equity without rights to decent work and social protection, no social justice without a shift in governance and ambition, and, ultimately, no peace for the peoples of the world without the guarantees of sustainability.

- Sharan Burrow

Protection, Dead, Shift, Work Together

Workers know first-hand how corporate capture of government is undermining their rights and freedoms as citizens.

- Sharan Burrow

Government, How, Undermining, First-Hand

Politically, we have seen the impact of social media organizing people through the Arab Spring.

- Sharan Burrow

Spring, Through, Social, Arab Spring

Growing inequality is exacerbated by the companies who simply treat workers as commodities, and our governments are cowered by their demands to perpetuate this model of greed.

- Sharan Burrow

Treat, Exacerbated, Perpetuate

We need economic growth, yes, but growth can be jobless, so a sustainable development framework for employment must include a job creation strategy.

- Sharan Burrow

Development, Need, Include, Employment

If multilateral institutions cannot bring about peace and the rule of law because of the vested interests of their members, then both national democracy and global governance will continue to be rocked by crises.

- Sharan Burrow

Bring, Rule, About, Vested

We need a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance, not vested interests in making citizens pay for formerly free services or restrictions to their capacity to share information.

- Sharan Burrow

Need, Making, Pay, Vested

Trade unions have stood at the front lines of struggles for democratic change and social justice throughout history. In many countries, we are the organized voice of oppositions to governments operating at the behest of corporate power and vested interests.

- Sharan Burrow

Voice, Stood, Governments, Vested

Market-led globalization is leading to a race to the bottom, where efficiency and profit matter more than a fair share for working people.

- Sharan Burrow

Efficiency, Race, Leading, Profit

There is no doubt that the participation of women in the workforce is a serious productivity boost, but to enable this ambition, there must be investment in care - child care, aged care, disability care, health, and education - which are essential social support structures to enable women to work.

- Sharan Burrow

Education, Participation, Workforce

When working men and women have secure jobs with living wages and social protection, they can invest in the economy at levels which will increase demand and help overcome the twin challenges of ageing populations and economic stagnation.

- Sharan Burrow

Challenges, Overcome, Invest, Stagnation

Until you separate the speculative behaviour of the financial sector from the real economy and the financing of the real economy, then we are not going to see the kind of stability or the capacity to drive genuine, income-led growth as opposed to debt-fuelled, speculative behaviour.

- Sharan Burrow

Going, Separate, Opposed, Financing

When work is not underpinned by social protection, people risk falling into poverty traps.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Falling, Social, Traps

Governments that fail to provide jobs to those who are willing and able to work begin to lose their legitimacy and will face the anger of the electorate.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Will, Willing, Electorate

Creating a Financial Transactions Tax would go a long way to curbing short-term speculative trading, including high-frequency trading.

- Sharan Burrow

Go, Trading, Including, Transactions

The rules of the global economy are rigged against those who have to work to earn a living and in favour of multinational corporations and the ultra-rich.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Living, Against, Multinational

A new model of business and economic development must ensure everybody's sons and daughters are treated as we would expect for our own.

- Sharan Burrow

Development, New, Treated, Economic

What Qatar chose is a system where a worker is owned by his employer. When your employer forces you to live in squalor, makes you work longest hours in extreme heat, doesn't allow you to change jobs, doesn't pay your wages on time, abuses you physically and psychologically, you have no way out, you can't leave. You are trapped.

- Sharan Burrow

Heat, Allow, Longest, Psychologically

When governments are cowed or simply don't care to enforce fundamental human and labour rights or to ensure corporate tax is paid so that they can invest in social protection and in the health and education of their people, they cede control to corporate greed.

- Sharan Burrow

Education, Invest, Enforce

It seems evident that the IMF has learned nothing from its inequality-inducing policies during the 1980s debt crises in Latin America nor from its recession-deepening response to the East Asian crisis of the late 1990s. In both regions, the IMF has become synonymous with making bad situations worse.

- Sharan Burrow

Bad, IMF, Regions, 1990s

Football, or soccer as it is known, is a game of two halves. It's a game with rules and a referee. FIFA, the governing body for football, follows neither the rule of law or has the oversight of a referee.

- Sharan Burrow

Soccer, Game, Law, Referee

T-Mobile U.S.A. is one company that uses fear and intimidation to scare workers away from union representation.

- Sharan Burrow

Union, Scare, Away, Intimidation

When women are expected to bear the burden of unpaid work, everyone loses.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Everyone, Expected, Unpaid

If there are not jobs or adequate forms of social protection, there is not enough income to create the consumption base that drives demand and sustainable economic growth.

- Sharan Burrow

Income, Social, Adequate, Base

Disproportionate corporate power over governments is giving license to the greed that denies workers even minimum living wages. It is also seemingly a license to allow the sheer brutality of treatment of working people at the base of the supply chains.

- Sharan Burrow

Chains, Allow, Treatment, Base

Illicit trade corrupts corporations and governments alike, allows dictators to survive, and obscures oppression, including modern day slavery.

- Sharan Burrow

Survive, Corrupts, Including, To Survive

Many communities are already devastated by poverty. Increasingly, that poverty is born of the greed of a global trading system.

- Sharan Burrow

Born, Trading, Increasingly, Devastated

If you put stimulus into an economy, you know there is a time lag in terms of depending where you invest it. If it's family transfers, it might be quick. If it's infrastructure, it might be two, three, five years.

- Sharan Burrow

Might, Quick, Stimulus, Lag

The competitive pressure to produce, buy, and sell to our global multi-national companies is so intense that contractors in supply chains are motivated to pay low wages, intensify exploitative conditions, keep workers fearful with insecure work contracts, or simply sack workers who have formed a union to fight back.

- Sharan Burrow

Chains, Exploitative, Sack, Formed

Where laws recognize rights to collective bargaining, the truth is that employee rights to negotiate with employers are denied in many countries.

- Sharan Burrow

Laws, Negotiate, Employers, Denied

When we see the banks get bailed out with seemingly no consequences while ordinary people pay the price with job and wage cuts through austerity measures, who could blame a person for wondering where the loyalties of their elected leaders really lie?

- Sharan Burrow

Through, Ordinary People, Wondering

As economists bandy about terms like 'recapitalization,' 'credit lines,' and 'liquidity,' families are facing brutal cuts to their social services and welfare payments, losing their homes, wondering how their kids will make their way in the world.

- Sharan Burrow

About, Payments, Facing, Wondering

Climate impacts hit working people first, and with extreme weather events, changing seasons, and rising sea levels, whole communities stand on the front lines.

- Sharan Burrow

Seasons, Rising, Whole, Communities

We must make both our distributional and democratic systems work for our communities.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Democratic, Systems, Communities

Collective bargaining, and the fundamental human right, freedom of association, is seen as an anathema to American business, and people just - it doesn't seem to register that there's no universal social safety net that people can touch.

- Sharan Burrow

Association, Fundamental, Anathema

A new business model based on old principles of social justice where people matter - now that's a revolutionary way to reduce inequality.

- Sharan Burrow

New, Reduce, Based, Social Justice

It's never been clearer that unrestrained market forces do not produce the kind of societies we aspire to - economically stable and socially inclusive, where citizens have access to secure jobs with the dignity of a fair wage and a welfare safety net.

- Sharan Burrow

Fair, Access, Been, Market Forces

Limiting the destructive risk-taking by large financial firms and banks which are 'too big to fail' is needed.

- Sharan Burrow

Big, Which, Risk-Taking, Limiting

South Carolina is a 'right to work' state - a misnomer of a phrase, as the laws limits union representation of workers. It does does not guarantee workers a job or fair wages and conditions.

- Sharan Burrow

Laws, Carolina, South, Limits

My job is to represent working people.

- Sharan Burrow

Job, Working, Working People, Represent

We know an organised workforce cannot be enslaved, but when governments fail their citizens and allow corporations to escape the rule of law, slavery can flourish.

- Sharan Burrow

Law, Allow, Organised, Corporations

A binding treaty and mandatory human rights due diligence would clean up slavery in global supply chains. Workers demand it, and consumers demand it.

- Sharan Burrow

Chains, Clean Up, Global, Binding

No country can afford to lose a generation to unemployment.

- Sharan Burrow

Generation, Country, Afford, No Country

Banks don't come with an internal switch that says, 'Enough! Let's slow down a little.' Or, 'Let's just share this wealth around for the benefit of the community now.' That's the job of government.

- Sharan Burrow

Wealth, Internal, Banks, Switch

#MeToo shows this bias is systemic, that people get away with violence against women, get away with discrimination - whether in work or society in general - because, for too long, silence has been the answer.

- Sharan Burrow

Away, Been, Systemic, Discrimination

Securing a sustainable future will take all of us working together.

- Sharan Burrow

Will, Sustainable, Take, Working Together

There is a great deal of sympathy amongst workers for the Occupy Wall Street movement. We understand their frustration.

- Sharan Burrow

Deal, Occupy Wall Street, Great Deal

Global supply chains are founded on a Darwinian model that rewards employers who treat working people as less than human.

- Sharan Burrow

Treat, Chains, Employers, Darwinian

In terms of emerging economies, we absolutely believe that the prescription is social protection and a minimum wage on which people can live.

- Sharan Burrow

Minimum Wage, Social, Which, Emerging

As we contemplate a world which is still choosing to deploy technological innovation in a way that deepens inequality and divisions within and between nations, we need to set global foundations back on track.

- Sharan Burrow

Innovation, Still, Which, Technological

Care work contributes enormously to the well-being of our societies and to the sustainability of our economies.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Well-Being, Economies, Societies

We need to decarbonise our societies and economies.

- Sharan Burrow

Need, Economies, Our, Societies

Large swathes of people losing faith in democracy is a dangerous thing. Conflict, desperation, totalitarianism are the products of that loss of faith.

- Sharan Burrow

Faith, Dangerous, Large, Conflict

Democracy is becoming collateral damage in a world where global risks have been ignored or exacerbated by those with the power to act.

- Sharan Burrow

Ignored, Been, Damage, Exacerbated

Democracy is rarely easy, nor swift.

- Sharan Burrow

Easy, Nor, Rarely, Swift

If you think the dominant orthodoxy - shrink your economy, render workers jobless, impoverish families, and still grow - is an oxymoron... then you would be right.

- Sharan Burrow

Grow, Think, Still, Render

Programs that reduce energy and water use and increase green agriculture and transport have huge job-creating potential.

- Sharan Burrow

Green, Agriculture, Reduce, Increase

Technology can be used to make people's lives easier, to reduce inequality, to facilitate inclusion, or to solve intractable global problems, but without dialogue and governance, it can be used against humanity - the choice on how we use technology is ours.

- Sharan Burrow

Facilitate, Reduce, Lives, Problems

All business must have a social license to operate.

- Sharan Burrow

Business, Social, Operate, License

If the impoverishment and community fragmentation continue, it is not a stretch to predict urban wars sparked by inequality, unemployment, and the breakdown of dialogue between leaders and citizens.

- Sharan Burrow

Leaders, Breakdown, Unemployment

Globalization can be shaped to ensure that people matter.

- Sharan Burrow

Matter, Shaped, Ensure, Globalization

Globalization has much potential. It could be the answer to many of the world's seemingly intractable problems. But this requires strong democratic foundations based on a political will to ensure equity and justice.

- Sharan Burrow

Strong, Based, Ensure, Globalization

We know how to build economies. It requires investment in jobs. The biggest medium-term multiplier is infrastructure.

- Sharan Burrow

How, Economies, Biggest, Requires

You cannot fuel demand, or consumption-led demand, on credit forever.

- Sharan Burrow

Forever, Fuel, Cannot, Credit

As universal a truth as the rising and setting of the sun each day, the global economy needs people.

- Sharan Burrow

Rising, Needs, Global, Universal

Where workers are not free to change employers or leave the country without the permission of their employer, workers are, de facto, in forced labour.

- Sharan Burrow

Country, Employers, Forced, Permission

We may be living in a world of disposable electronics, but working people are not disposable commodities.

- Sharan Burrow

Living, Working People, Commodities

The environment, stabilizing the climate, needs urgent attention from all of us.

- Sharan Burrow

Environment, Needs, Climate, Urgent

Many women drop out of the work force altogether, which holds back our economy with a loss of skills and personnel.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Drop, Which, Holds

With global rules for global supply chains, we can end corporate greed.

- Sharan Burrow

Chains, Corporate, Global, Greed

You can't deny that if you have, you know, people who think it's okay to talk about women, to disregard the rights of workers, we're in trouble as an inclusive world.

- Sharan Burrow

Think, Inclusive, Okay, Workers

We need investment in green economy infrastructure; public services, training and education; and a multilateral plan to create youth job opportunities.

- Sharan Burrow

Education, Green, Need, Opportunities

We all eat breakfast in the morning, we all go to sleep at night, and we all want our kids to have opportunities that we didn't.

- Sharan Burrow

Night, Want, Go, Opportunities

We cannot grow jobs without investment; we cannot grow economies if we don't earn.

- Sharan Burrow

Grow, Jobs, We Cannot, Economies

If political leaders want respect, they will begin by enforcing the global rule of law.

- Sharan Burrow

Law, Will, Political Leaders, Begin

Public opinion must be heard.

- Sharan Burrow

Public Opinion, Must, Public, Opinion

Investment in jobs at a time when millions are unemployed can only be a good thing: all the better if the jobs help us shift from a high-carbon to a low-carbon economy.

- Sharan Burrow

Shift, Jobs, A Good Thing, Unemployed

Poor people around the world spend more on energy because they lack the capital to buy a more expensive energy-efficient product.

- Sharan Burrow

Product, More, Capital, Poor People

For the unions, it is simple. There are no jobs on a dead planet.

- Sharan Burrow

Simple, Planet, Jobs, Unions

The concept of 'green jobs' or a 'green economy' is often attacked as the work of the Grimm Brothers by those wedded to the grim science of free-market economics.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, Green, Brothers, Attacked

You'd never plan a career like I've had.

- Sharan Burrow

Career, Never, Like, Plan

Work has always been influenced by technology and will continue to be.

- Sharan Burrow

Will, Always, Been, Influenced

Labour is not a commodity.

- Sharan Burrow

Commodity, Labour

There's not much more of an honour - to work for, and with, working people.

- Sharan Burrow

Work, More, Working People, Honour

I've had an enormously privileged working life.

- Sharan Burrow

Life, Working, Had, Privileged

If people do not have jobs, they do not have a secure income, and they do not have a sense of security.

- Sharan Burrow

Security, Sense, Jobs, Income

Wealth is being generated off the back of oppression and abuse.

- Sharan Burrow

Wealth, Back, Abuse, Oppression

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