Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2004, publiée 93ème session CIT (2005)

The Committee notes the Government’s report. The Committee also notes the report of the direct contacts mission which visited Venezuela from 13 to 15 October 2004, and the comments on the application of the Convention made by the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) (30 July 2004). The Committee notes that the comments made by the IOE are addressed in the observation relating to the application of Convention No. 87.

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that, according to the report of the direct contacts mission, the Bill to amend the Basic Labour Act will soon be submitted to the Legislative Assembly and that it contains provisions reinforcing the sanctions in the event of violations of the guarantees protecting freedom of association (acts of anti-union discrimination or interference) with fines of between 250 and 500 tax units, as well as, in situations in which a single trade union exists in an enterprise but does not represent the majority of the workers, allowing the employer to negotiate a collective agreement with this union.

With regard to its previous comments concerning the negotiation of collective agreements with non-representative organizations of workers, the Committee requested the Government to ensure that at the outset of bargaining unions that are able to demonstrate their representativeness are recognized. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on cases which have occurred in recent years in which two unions claimed to be the most representative and on the respective criteria followed in practice by the authorities in determining the most representative trade union.