Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

The Committee takes note of the Government's report.

1. The Committee recalls that its previous comments addressed the need to adopt specific provisions enforceable by sufficiently dissuasive sanctions to ensure the application of Article 2 of the Convention. It notes from the Government's report that the draft of the new Labour Code which is to be submitted to the National Council for adoption after the parliamentary elections of November 1993, includes penal sanctions to enforce protection of workers against all acts of interference by employers or their organizations. The Government indicates in particular that section 109 of the draft provides that the administrative body may authorize several of its members at the unions' headquarters or branches to engage in trade union activities and that the procedures and conditions for such authorization shall be set by consultation between the Ministry, the employers and the union confederation.

While noting this information, the Committee draws the Government's attention to Article 2 of the Convention which provides, first in general terms, that "workers' and employers' organizations shall enjoy adequate protection against any acts of interference by each other or each other's agents or members in their establishment, functioning or administration", and goes on to define certain specific acts of interference which "are designed to promote the establishment of workers' organizations under the domination of employers or employers' organizations, or to support workers' organizations by financial or other means, with the object of placing such organizations under the control of employers or employers' organizations".

In the Committee's view, the provisions of section 109 of the draft new Labour Code are insufficient to guarantee the protection laid down in Article 2, in that they provide for the protection only of union representatives who engage in trade union activities. It therefore urges the Government once again to take the necessary steps to bring its legislation into conformity with the Convention.

2. With reference to its previous comments on the lack of provisions to ensure that the Convention is applied to domestic servants and agricultural workers who are not employed in government organizations, mechanical equipment establishments or irrigation work, the Committee notes that the Government states once again in its report that the coverage of such workers is broader in the new Code than in the present Code, since section 2 of the draft includes casual, temporary and seasonal work. It regrets the Government's statement that domestic workers have been excluded from the new Code because such employment is not as a rule stable or permanent, but notes that the Ministry is examining the possibility of issuing special conditions of employment for such workers.

The Committee must stress once again the need to grant all agricultural and domestic workers, without exception, protection against acts of anti-union discrimination as well as the right to negotiate their conditions of employment collectively. It asks the Government to take the necessary steps in the very near future to give effect to the Convention and to indicate them in its next report.

3. The Committee asks the Government to provide a copy of the new Labour Code and the texts of any other laws giving effect to the Convention as soon as they have been adopted.

[The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1994.]