Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2000, publiée 89ème session CIT (2001)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report and of the comments submitted by the Confederation of Trade Unions of Rwanda (CESTRAR) and requests the Government to comment on these in its next report. The Committee recalls its previous observations on the incompatibility between certain provisions of the national legislation and the Convention.

Article 2 of the Convention (the right of workers,
without distinction whatsoever, to establish
organizations of their own choosing)

Agricultural workers

Section 186 of the 1967 Labour Code excludes agricultural workers from the scope of the Labour Code and therefore from the protection guaranteed by the Convention of the right to organize and bargain collectively in respect of employment conditions. The Committee recalls that it has been requesting the Government to include these workers in the Labour Code since 1969 in the framework of the application of Convention No. 11, in order for them to enjoy the same rights as industrial workers. The Committee urges the Government to grant agricultural workers the right to organize in the defence of their occupational interests.

Public servants

The Committee also notes the comments of CESTRAR regarding the application of the Convention and in particular the allegation that section 84 of the draft Act on public service envisages a prohibition on state employees from publicly expressing their political, philosophical, religious or trade union opinions. CESTRAR considers that this provision is tantamount to prohibiting public servants from organizing. The Committee believes that freedom of expression is an essential element of freedom of association. The full exercise of trade union rights calls for a free flow of information, opinions and ideas, and workers, employers and their organizations should enjoy freedom of opinion and expression at their meetings, in their publications, and in the course of their other activities (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 38). Moreover, public servants must benefit, as do other workers, from the civil and political rights which are essential to the normal exercise of freedom of association, subject only to obligations devolving from their status and the nature of the functions they perform. The Committee therefore requests the Government to remove the prohibition of the freedom of expression of trade unions from section 84 of the draft Act on public service.

Articles 3 and 10 (the right of the organizations of public servants not exercising authority in the name of the State to formulate their programmes in the defence of the occupational interests of their members, including recourse to collective action and to strikes). Section 26 of the Legislative Decree of 19 March 1974 on the general conditions of service of employees of the State forbids state employees to take part in strikes or in activities aimed at causing a strike in the state services. According to information supplied by the Government in its reports, the review of the general conditions of service of state employees was under examination by the technical services of the Ministry for Labour and the Public Service. This review included amending section 26. The Committee recalls that the prohibition of the right to strike in the public service should be limited to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State. In its latest report, the Government indicated that section 73 of the draft Act on the review of the general status of civil servants provides that civil servants have the rights and liberties recognized to citizens by the Constitution. It again requests the Government to transmit, in its next report, the text of the draft amendment to section 26.

Article 3 of the Convention (the right of workers’ organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom). Section 8(b) of the 1967 Labour Code provides that only nationals may be elected as members responsible for the management and administration of a workers’ organization. However, the Committee considers that national legislation should allow foreign workers to take up trade union office, at least after a reasonable period of residence in the host country (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraphs 63 and 118). The Committee notes that the Government reiterates its earlier comments that the draft Labour Code, under examination, should amend the provisions of section 8. Section 67(2) of the draft indeed provides that foreign workers may be elected to trade union office after a period of residence of at least five years in the country, subject to their number not exceeding one-third of the members of the organization’s management and administration committee. The Committee firmly hopes that this amendment will be adopted very shortly.

Legislation envisaged regarding restrictions to the right to strike

The Committee recalls that section 272 of the draft Labour Code which restricts the right to strike of workers occupying posts essential for the physical safety of persons, for the conservation of installations and for ensuring the functioning of the country’s vital socio-economic sectors, has too wide a scope to be compatible with the Convention. Noting that the Government indicates in its report that this text is dictated by the concern to maintain essential services, that is those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population and that this will be confirmed by the application of section 272, the Committee nevertheless insists that the Government modify the text of section 272 of the draft Labour Code, using the precise terms mentioned in its report.

The Committee requests the Government to communicate information in its next report on all progress achieved in this respect.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2001.]