Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1999, publiée 88ème session CIT (2000)

The Committee has noted the information supplied by the Government in its report.

1. Articles 2, 3 and 7 of the Convention. The right of workers to establish unions without previous authorization and the acquisition of legal personality by a union; the right of unions to organize their management without interference from the public authorities. The Committee notes with interest that the provisions of sections 177 to 179 of the 1995 Labour Code (social law document, 1995 ALB 1) provide in particular that the statutes of any trade union must be signed by at least 20 founder members and that the statutes must be lodged with the competent tribunal in order for the trade union organization to acquire legal personality. The Committee trusts that sections 177 to 179 of the Labour Code have resulted in the repeal of the provisions of Act No. 7516 of 1991, as amended by Act No. 7795 of 1994, on the automatic dissolution of unions which do not have 300 members. It requests the Government to confirm this in its next report.

2. Article 3. The Committee notes that section 1A of the Law on Trade Unions of 1992 provides that trade unions are prohibited from engaging in political activity. The Committee, while being aware of the political problems which the country may have faced, considers that the overall prohibition to engage in political activity is not in conformity with the right of workers to organize their activities and programmes in full freedom. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to lift the total ban on political activities of unions.

In addition, the Committee notes that section 6 requires all unions to provide at the end of each semester a document certifying the bank deposit of union subscriptions under threat of immediate administrative dissolution. In this regard, the Committee considers that this type of supervision should be limited to the obligation of submitting annual reports and that the lack of submission should not entail administrative dissolution, and thus requests the Government to take measures in order to modify its legislation on this point.

3. Articles 3 and 10. With regard to the prohibition of strikes under threat of three months' imprisonment contained in sections 6(c) and (ch) and 9, paragraph 2, of Decree No. 7458 of 22 February 1991, as amended by Decrees Nos. 7636 of 12 November 1992 and 7711 of 20 May 1993, the Committee notes the Government's statement that a working group has been set up to study the provisions of the Decree in order to bring them into compliance with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report any progress made on this matter.

4. Right to organize of public servants. The Committee takes note of the Civil Servants Act of 21 March 1996 which grants the right to organize and to bargain collectively to civil servants (section 33). It nevertheless notes that, according to the information supplied by the Government in its report, public officials do not have the right to strike (section 35). The Committee recalls that prohibition of the right to strike in the civil service should be restricted to public servants engaged in positions of authority in the name of the State. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report if, in particular, teachers, postal workers and railway workers in the public sector have the right to strike.