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Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Sierra Leone (RATIFICATION: 1961)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report.

As regards the application of Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention, the Committee had previously noted that the revision of the labour laws, prepared with ILO technical assistance, had already been submitted to tripartite meetings. The Committee notes the Government's statement that the comments of the tripartite body have been received and that the document has just been forwarded to the Law Officers' Department. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any further progress made in the preparation of the final draft document and to provide a copy of the revised legislation as soon as it has been adopted.

With regard to the right to collective bargaining of teachers, the Government reiterates that teachers are now at liberty to conduct free and voluntary negotiation with their employers since they now have a Negotiating Council of their own.

In its previous observation however, the Committee had noted that Government Notice No. 325 of 18 November 1993 established the teaching service as an essential trade group under section 17(4) of the Regulation of Wages and Industrial Relations Act, 1971, which provided that, should such trade groups fail to reach agreement in negotiations, the Minister would refer the matter to compulsory arbitration in accordance with section 17(2) of the Act. The Committee had pointed out that such provisions did not encourage and promote the development and utilization of machinery for voluntary collective bargaining in the teaching sector. The Government indicates that there has been no cause to refer any matter for compulsory arbitration in the teaching sector.

The Committee takes note of this information with interest and would request the Government to provide information in its future reports on any collective agreements covering teachers that have been concluded.