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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Saint Lucia (RATIFICATION: 1980)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

As regards sections 18(7) and 19B(2), of the Trade Unions and Trade Disputes Ordinance of 1959, as amended in 1974, which confer on the Registrar a right of inspection, at his discretion, over the accounts of the trade unions, the Committee pointed out in its previous direct request that these provisions ought, in order to be in conformity with the Convention, to be either repealed or amended by restricting their application to cases of presumed irregularities coming to light from the presentation of the annual financial report provided for by section 19B(1), or to cases of complaints by members of the union and, furthermore, that there should be a provision specifying that every verification shall be subject to re-examination by the competent judicial authority.

The Committee notes the Government's assertion that, in practice, the Registrar only exercises his right to investigate unions' books where there is reason for suspicion arising out of representations made by union members. The Committee none the less reiterates the need for the above-mentioned amendments and asks the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention and this practice.