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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Solomon Islands (RATIFICATION: 2012)

In its previous comments, the Committee drew the Government’s attention to certain legislative provisions which were not in conformity with the Convention and which needed to be amended in order to:

Article 2 of the Convention

• -Ensure that not only employees, but all workers irrespective of their contractual status, including independent and outsourced workers and workers without an employment contract enjoy the rights enshrined in the Convention (sections 2 et seq. of the Trade Union Act (TUA)).
• -Guarantee the enjoyment of the trade union rights enshrined in the Convention to prison staff and fire services (excluded by section 2 of the TUA).
• -Restrict the Registrar’s discretionary powers in various aspects of the registration and amalgamation procedures, in particular the Registrar’s discretion to accept or refuse a registration on numerous broad grounds or to request a name change (sections 13, 42, 44, 45 and 47 of the TUA), and remove excessive regulation of these procedures so as to ensure that the requirements for registration and amalgamation only constitute in the verification of formalities and do not amount to a previous authorization.
• -Allow the registration of more than one trade union in a given enterprise or industry, including in cases where another trade union is adequately representative of the interests of the applicant union (section 13(1) of the TUA), and allow workers to join more than one union and to fully exercise their voting rights therein (sections 29(3) and 30(2) of the TUA).

Article 3

• -Remove the detailed regulations and excessive interference powers of the Registrar that impair the self-regulatory capacities of trade unions to determine their constitution, rules, finances and programmes (including prohibiting the union from paying fines on behalf of its members and empowering the Registrar to approve the auditor, examine books and inspect accounts, control ex officio compliance by the union or an officer with union rules and inspect financial management) (sections 31, 35(5), 36, 39, 40, 50, 51, 53, 61 and Schedule 35, sections 13–15 and 17 of the TUA).
• -Remove legislative restrictions on the eligibility of union representatives, including those based on age, literacy, criminal record and membership in more than one union (sections 28 and 29 of the TUA), as the determination of conditions of eligibility should be left to the discretion of union rules.
• -Remove restrictions on voting rights of minors (section 28 of the TUA) and all other workers, including those who are not normally employed and normally resident (section 30(1) of the TUA) or who are registered in more than one trade union (section 30(2) of the TUA).
• -Remove any possibility to impose penal sanctions for the participation in peaceful strikes (section 2(1) of the Essential Services Act (ESA)).
• -Ensure that compulsory arbitration (sections 4(2) and 6(1) of the Trade Disputes Act (TDA)) in trade disputes or in the framework of collective bargaining is only possible when the dispute concerns essential services in the strict sense of the term or public servants exercising authority in the name of the State, or in situations of acute national crisis to the extent necessary to address the situation.

Article 4

• -Minimize the Registrar’s discretionary power in relation to cancellation and suspension of registration (section 14 of the TUA) and ensure that in case of judicial appeal against a decision to suspend or cancel a registration, both suspension and cancellation only take effect once the judicial decision is taken (section 17(2) of the TUA).

Articles 5 and 6

• -Include in the TUA provisions that allow trade unions to join federations, confederations and foreign or international organizations and that grant federations and confederations the rights guaranteed by the Convention.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the issues raised above will be considered for action. The Committee therefore expects that the Government will take the necessary legislative and other measures, in consultation with the social partners, to bring the provisions of the TUA, the TDA and the ESA into full conformity with the Convention. It requests the Government to inform it of any measures taken or planned in this regard.

In addition, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide further details on the legal provisions applicable to the Constitution of employers’ organizations and on the legal provisions and practice applicable to the right to strike, in particular in relation to strike prerequisites, including the cooling-off period and advance notice, and penalties for illegal strikes.