Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its reports as well as the statement made by the Minister of Labour of Bolivia and the discussions which took place during the 1998 Conference Committee on the Application of Standards.

The Committee recalls that the comments which it has been making for several years in respect of the following points were examined during the direct contacts mission in October 1997:

(1) the exclusion of agricultural workers from the scope of the General Labour Act (section 1 of the General Labour Act and its Regulation);

(2) the denial of the right to trade union rights for public servants (section 104 of the General Labour Act);

(3) the impossibility of establishing more than one trade union in an enterprise (section 103 of the General Labour Act);

(4) the wide powers of supervision conferred on the labour inspectorate over trade union activities (section 101 of the General Labour Act);

(5) the fulfilment of certain requirements for eligibility to trade union office (section 138 of the Regulation of the General Labour Act stipulates the requirement of Bolivian nationality and sections 6(c) and 7 of the Legislative Decree of June 1951 stipulate the requirement of permanent employment in the enterprise);

(6) the possible dissolution of trade union organizations by administrative decision (section 129 of the Regulation of the General Labour Act of 1943);

(7) the imposition of certain restrictions in respect of the right to strike (a majority of three-quarters of the workers of the enterprise to call a strike (section 114 of the Act and section 159 of the Regulation)); the unlawful nature of general and sympathy strikes which are liable to penal sanctions (sections 1 and 2 of Legislative Decree No. 02565 of 1951); the unlawful nature of strikes in banks (section 1(c) of the Supreme Decree No. 1959 of 1950) and the recourse to compulsory arbitration by decision of the Executive Power to put an end to a strike (section 113 of the General Labour Act);

(8) the lack of provisions to protect workers who are not trade union leaders against anti-union discrimination;

(9) the lack of provisions to protect against any act of interference by employers' organizations in workers' organizations and vice versa;

(10) the need to promote and develop collective bargaining to ensure that collective bargaining is not restricted to fixing wage rates but is, in practice, extended to other conditions of employment.

In respect of section 1 of the General Labour Act and its Regulation, the Committee notes that, in accordance with the Minister of Labour's statement, section 4 of Act No. 1715 respecting the National Institute of Agricultural Reforms, of 18 December 1996, provides for wage-earning agricultural workers to be included in the scope of the General Labour Act. In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the text in question and to inform it whether this category of workers may negotiate their conditions of employment through collective bargaining and whether they may go on strike.

The Committee considers that self-employed rural workers should also enjoy the right to organize to defend their occupational interests and requests the Government to adopt the necessary measures in this respect.

The Committee also notes with interest the Minister of Labour's statement to the effect that the Social Dialogue Programme is being pursued by a tripartite Committee with a view to amending the national legislation and that the essential questions raised by the Committee which have obtained tripartite consensus shall be amended by Decrees issued by the Executive Power. In this respect, the Minister of Labour confirms the agreement in respect of the amendments to the following questions, for which a tripartite consensus had already been reached during the direct contacts mission, namely:

-- section 101 of the General Labour Act which confers wide powers of supervision of the labour inspectorate over trade union activities;

-- section 129 of the Regulation of the General Labour Act of 1943 respecting the possible dissolution of trade union organizations by administrative decision;

-- the inclusion of provisions to protect workers who are not trade union leaders against acts of anti-union discrimination and against any acts of interference by employers' organizations in worker' organizations and vice versa.

The Committee takes due note of the Minister of Labour's statement to the effect that the Government has neither imposed nor allowed the imposition of penal sanctions in the event of general or sympathy strikes (section 2 of Legislative Decree No. 02565 of 1951). Nevertheless the Committee notes that this Legislative Decree, as well as section 234 of the Penal Code (which also lays down sanctions for unlawful strikes), which imposes sanctions such as prison sentences of one to five years and fines of 100 to 500 días, remain in force.

In respect of the above comments, the Committee takes due note that the Minister of Labour has expressed a commitment to ensure the amendment of all of the provisions which are not in conformity with the Convention, which shall be examined within the framework of the Social Dialogue Programme with a view to reaching a consensus, and for these provisions to be incorporated in the text of the new General Labour Act.

The Committee expresses the firm hope that the Government will provide information in its next report in respect of the measures adopted to amend the national legislation as indicated during the direct contacts mission and confirmed by the Minister of Labour.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 1999.]