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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (RATIFICATION: 1982)

The Committee notes the observations made by the Single Workers' Central of Venezuela (CUTV) concerning a number of the provisions of the Labour Bill which, in its opinion, are not compatible with the requirements of the Convention. These include the requirement of too high a number of workers to establish an enterprise union (30) and an occupational union (300), restrictions on the right of foreign workers to be elected to the executive committee of a trade union, the administrative appeals procedure against decisions to refuse the registration of a trade union, and restrictions on the right to strike.

In a communication dated 6 March 1990, the Government states that the CUTV's comments have been transmitted to the chairman of the commission responsible for examining the Labour Bill. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the effect given to the CUTV's comments by the authorities examining the Labour Bill.

The Committee also notes the information supplied in the Government's report on the points raised in its previous direct request.

1. Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers to join freely organisations of their own choosing. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government concerning the scope of section 323 of Decree No. 1563 of 31 December 1973 containing regulations under the Labour Act.2. Article 3. Right of workers to elect their representatives in full freedom. In its previous request, the Committee indicated that section 179 of the Labour Act, which provides that foreigners who have resided for more than ten years in Venezuela may, with the authorisation of the Minister, be members of the executive committee of a trade union, may be an obstacle to the right of workers to elect their representatives in full freedom.

The Government states in its report that this matter has been brought to the attention of the parliamentarians who are responsible for examining the Labour Bill.

The Committee trusts, in these circumstances, that measures will be taken to amend the legislation in order to permit organisations to choose their leaders without hindrance and to permit foreign workers to hold trade union office (1) after a reasonable period of residence in the host country and (2) without the necessity of the prior ministerial authorisation (in this connection, see paragraph 160 of the 1983 General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining).

The Committee also points out that the Labour Bill, to which the ILO has access (Part 3(a), section 19), obliges trade union officers, after they have completed two consecutive mandates, to miss a mandate before standing for re-election. The Committee considers that a provision of this nature should be contained in the by-laws of the trade unions and that the legislation should not contain restrictions on the re-election of trade union officers. It therefore requests the Government not to maintain this restriction in the Bill.

3. Financial independence of trade unions. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, this matter is also being examined within the context of the discussions on the Labour Bill.

The Committee therefore recalls that the Labour Bill, which confers on the public authorities a certain right of inspection over the internal administration of trade unions (sections 181, 182, 188, 189 and 191), should be made more flexible so as to confine financial supervision to an examination carried out periodically or on application by a group of members or in the event of fraud (see paragraph 188 of the General Survey).

The Committee once again draws the Government's attention to the Labour Bill which, although it does not take up the terms of section 191 of the current Act, continues to oblige trade unions to provide the competent officials of the Ministry of Labour with all of the information that they may request (Part 3(a), section 14(c), of the Bill).

In the Committee's opinion, this provision should be modified along the lines of the comments set out above.

4. Article 4. Workers' organisations must not be subject to dissolution or suspension by administrative authority. In its previous request, the Committee invited the Government to delete section 205 of the Labour Act which prohibits trade union organisations from affiliating with political associations or parties, whether national or foreign, on pain of administrative dissolution. It also noted that in practice all political trends are represented in the trade union movement and that this provision, according to the Government, has therefore fallen into desuetude.

The Government states in its report that Parliament has also examined this question.

The Committee also notes that, according to the Government, section 199 of the Labour Act, which empowers the Minister to cancel the registration of a union if it carries on activities other than those set out in section 172, namely furthering and defending the interests of its members, is not applied in practice. Furthermore, the Government specifies that, since 1976, the Supreme Court has replaced the Federal Court of Cassation to which reference is made in section 199, and that the Court may suspend any administrative decision in the event of an appeal while awaiting a final judicial decision.

Since sections 205 and 199 of the Labour Act are not applied in practice, the Committee requests the Government to delete these provisions in order to bring the legislation fully into conformity with national practice and the Convention, and it requests it to supply information on the progress achieved on all the points that have been raised.