Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Uganda (Ratification: 1963)

Other comments on C105

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 1(d) of the Convention. Penal sanctions involving compulsory labour as a punishment for having participated in strikes. The Committee previously noted that the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 2006, contains provisions concerning the resolution and settlement of labour disputes which could lead to the imposition of compulsory arbitration procedures, thus making strikes or other industrial action unlawful. Strikes may be declared unlawful, for example, where the minister or the labour officer refers a dispute to the Industrial Court (section 28(4)) or where the Industrial Court makes an award which has come into force (section 29(1)). The organization of strikes in these circumstances is punishable with imprisonment (involving compulsory prison labour) pursuant to sections 28(6) and 29(2) and (3) of the Act, and the Committee accordingly reminded the Government that such penalties were not in conformity with the Convention. In addition, the Committee noted that, under section 34(5) of the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 2006, the minister may refer disputes in essential services to the Industrial Court, thus making illegal any collective withdrawal of labour in such services, with violation of this prohibition being punishable with imprisonment (involving an obligation to perform labour) (section 33(1) and (2) of the Act).

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that special regulations have been put in place to expedite the settlement of disputes in essential services. In this regard, it notes the Government’s statement in its report submitted on the application of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), that the Labour Disputes Arbitration and Settlement (Mediation and Conciliation) Regulations of 2012 were developed, which provide for a special expedited mechanism to handle disputes relating to essential services. The Government states that this mechanism will provide a faster and more amicable handling of disputes related to essential services than the use of sanctions or penalties. The Government further states that the list of essential services in the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act should be harmonized with that of the Public Service Negotiating and Disputes Settlement Machinery Act of 2007, and that this issue will be discussed by the Labour Advisory Board.

Referring to paragraph 314 of its General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions concerning rights at work, the Committee recalls that when restrictions and prohibitions on the right to strike connected with the imposition of compulsory arbitration are enforceable with sanctions involving compulsory labour, they should be limited to the sectors, types of employment or situations where, in conformity with freedom of association principles, restrictions may be imposed on the right to strike itself (such as, for example, essential services in the strict sense of the term or situations of acute national crisis). The Committee therefore hopes that measures will be taken to bring the abovementioned provisions of the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act, 2006, into conformity with the Convention, either by removing the penalties of imprisonment involving compulsory labour, or restricting their scope to essential services in the strict sense of the term (namely those services, the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population), or to situations of acute national crisis. The Committee requests the Government to provide, in its next report, information on measures taken in this regard.