Suites données aux recommandations du comité et du Conseil d’administration - Rapport No. 383, Octobre 2017

Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body

1. 66. The Committee last examined this case concerning restrictions on the trade union rights of banking sector employees following the enactment of section 27-B of the Banking Companies (Amendment) Act, 1997 at its June 2016 meeting [see 378th Report, paras 72–78]. On that occasion, the Committee firmly expected the Government to promptly take all the necessary measures to ensure that this legislation is brought into conformity with the principles of freedom of association, by making it more flexible through admitting, as candidates, persons who have previously been employed in the banking company concerned and by exempting from the occupational requirement, a reasonable proportion of the officers of an organization. With regard to the alleged anti-union dismissals in 1999 of over 500 trade union leaders and members in the banking sector, the Committee firmly urged the Government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that all pending cases were resolved without delay and to provide full information on the judgments rendered. The Committee further regretted that the Government had not provided any reply to the allegations of anti union dismissals of Messrs Assad Shahbaz Bhatti, Arshad Mehmood, Zulfiqar Awan and Mazhar Iqbal Sial submitted by the complainant in 2010 and once again urged the Government to provide its observations in this regard. With regard to the case of the deceased former president of the union, Mr Maqsood Ahmad Farooqui, in view of the information provided by the complainant that on 26 January 2011 the Punjab Labour Appellate Tribunal in Lahore decided in his favour, the Committee once again urged the Government to ensure that his heirs receive the relevant compensation.
2. 67. In its communications dated 30 November 2016 and 16 March 2017, the complainant, United Bank Limited (UBL) Employees Union, alleges a total lack of progress in the implementation of the Committee’s recommendations in this case. It emphasizes, in particular, that no measures had been taken with regard to the repealing of section 27-B and the dismissed trade unionists in the banking sector since the Committee’s first examination of this case in 2001.
3. 68. The Committee notes with deep regret that no information has been provided by the Government on the measures taken to address the issues in this long-standing case. In particular, it notes with deep concern that after having stated on several occasions that legislative measures to repeal section 27-B were being taken, this provision, which excludes from the trade union office any “person who is not an employee of the banking company in question” remains in force. The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the Banking Companies (Amendment) Act by making it more flexible, either by admitting as candidates persons who have previously been employed in the occupation concerned, or by exempting from the occupational requirement a reasonable proportion of the officers of an organization. The Committee draws the attention of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations to the legislative aspect of this case.
4. 69. The Committee further once again firmly urges the Government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that all pending cases of dismissed workers, including Messrs Assad Shahbaz Bhatti, Arshad Mehmood, Zulfiqar Awan and Mazhar Iqbal Sial, are resolved without delay and to provide full information on the judgments rendered. The Committee further urges the Government to indicate whether the heirs of Mr Maqsood Ahmad Farooqui, the deceased former president of the union dismissed following the enactment of section 27-B, had received the relevant compensation following the decision of the Punjab Labour Appellate Tribunal in Lahore on 26 January 2011 deciding in his favour and to indicate the amount thereof.