Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

The Committee notes the Government’s report.

1. Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that in its previous observation it referred to Act No. 25013 of September 1998, amending Act No. 14250 on collective bargaining, in which section 14 provides that "representation of workers in collective bargaining shall be incumbent on the most representative trade union organization, which may delegate its bargaining power to a decentralized body" and that it stressed that on the basis of the principle of free and voluntary negotiation laid down in Article 4 of the Convention, negotiations at enterprise level should depend essentially on the will of the parties at that level. In this regard, the Committee notes with satisfaction that the contested section of Act No. 25013 has been repealed by adoption of Act No. 25250 of May 2000 which provides the possibility of bargaining at all levels and grants representation of workers in negotiation of enterprise collective agreements by the union which represents them.

2. Nevertheless, the Committee observes that the new Act does not refer to the legislative provisions commented on by the Committee which restrict free collective bargaining by stipulating that collective agreements which go beyond enterprise level be submitted for approval by the Ministry of Labour (for granting official approval), the Ministry considers not only whether a collective labour agreement contains clauses violating the public order standards of Acts Nos. 14250 and 23928 but also whether it complies with the criteria of productivity, investment, and the introduction of technology and vocational training systems (section 3 of Act No. 23545, section 6 of Act No. 25546 and section 3ter of Decree No. 470/93). On this matter, the Committee requests the Government to take measures to repeal or amend the provisions in question in order to bring legislation into conformity with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on all measures taken in this respect.

3. Finally, the Committee notes that the Committee on Freedom of Association, having observed that the Executive in the province of Buenos Aires vetoed a draft law guaranteeing the right to collective bargaining of public officials in that province, requested the Government to take measures to ensure that the right of these officials to undertake collective bargaining is respected (see 326th Report, Case No. 2117). The Committee shares the concern of the Committee on Freedom of Association and requests the Government to supply information in its next report on any measures adopted to ensure that the workers in question enjoy the right to collective bargaining.

The Committee is also addressing a request directly to the Government.