Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

The Committee notes the Government’s reply to the comments of 26 August 2009 by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) concerning the application of the Convention. The Committee also notes the ITUC’s new comments, dated 24 August 2010, on matters already raised by the Committee, and on acts of violence against trade unionists in the export processing zones – the maquila sector. The Committee requests the Government to provide its observations thereon.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to freely organize their activities and formulate their programmes. The Committee has been referring for several years to the need for measures to amend
sections 389–390 of the Labour Code which provide for compulsory arbitration of a dispute where 30 days have elapsed since the calling of the strike. The Committee notes that in response the Government states that: (i) this provision on no account alters the rights of trade union organizations to carry out their activities peacefully and freely; (ii) provision is made for compulsory arbitration because of the social and economic conditions in Nicaragua; and (iii) the economic structure of enterprises established in the country cannot sustain a socio-economic crisis of more than 30 days. The Committee recalls that arbitration imposed by the authorities on their own initiative is difficult to reconcile with the principle of the voluntary nature of negotiation (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 258), and in so far as compulsory arbitration obstructs the exercise of the right to strike, it violates the right of trade unions to organize their activities in full freedom, and could only be justified in the context of the public services, or essential services in the strict sense of the term (services the interruption of which could endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population) or in the event of an acute national crisis. In these circumstances, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary steps to amend sections 389–390 of the Labour Code to take account of the abovementioned principles. It also requests the Government, in its next report, to provide information on any measures taken to this end.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.