Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Article 1 of the Convention. With reference to its previous comments concerning the insufficiency of the legislative provisions to ensure adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination against workers' representatives, the Committee had noted the Government's statement in its last report that the formulation of the draft text of the Labour Code, of which section 158 provides protection for workers' representatives, has been completed.

The Committee trusts that the new Labour Code, including new section 158, will be adopted as soon as possible and it requests the Government to supply a copy of it as soon as it has been adopted.

2. Article 2. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government to the effect that sections 134(b), 137(3), 241 and 242 of the regulations issued under Act No. 19 of 1991 respecting the public service apply this Article of the Convention. The Committee, however, notes that sections 241 and 242 only provide for the protection of public servants against acts of anti-union discrimination and that sections 134(b) and 137(3) relate to the possibility of the secondment of a public servant to work in a trade union.

In these conditions, the Committee is once again bound to draw the Government's attention to the terms of Article 2 of the Convention, under which such facilities in the enterprise shall be afforded to workers' representatives as may be appropriate in order to enable them to carry out their function promptly and efficiently (for example, the free time necessary to attend trade union meetings, training courses, seminars, conferences and congresses, access to the workplace when necessary, places to post trade union notices, etc., as indicated in Chapter IV of the Workers' Representatives Recommendation, 1971 (No. 143)).

The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate in its next report whether measures have been taken to afford such facilities to workers' representatives in enterprises, both in the private and public sectors.