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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Paraguay (RATIFICATION: 1962)

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 concerned:

- the restriction that a worker may join only one union, in either his enterprise, industry, occupation or trade, or institution (section 293(c) of the new Labour Code);

- the requirement that trade unions must comply with all requests for consultations or reports from the labour authorities (sections 290(f) and 304(c) of the new Code);

- the ban on trade union involvement in political matters (section 305(a) of the new Code);

- the requirement that for a strike to be called, its sole purpose must be the direct protection of the workers' occupational interests (section 358(a) and 376(a) of the new Code);

- the obligation to ensure a minimum service in the event of a strike in public services which are essential to the community (section 362 of the new Code).

1. With regard to the provision that a worker may join only one union, in either his enterprise, industry, occupation or trade, or institution (section 293(c)), the Committee considers that workers must be able, should they so wish, to be members of the unions for each one of the categories in which they work, when they engage in more than one occupation in various enterprises or sectors, and also if they so wish, to be members of a trade union at the enterprise or industry level.

2. With regard to the requirement that trade unions must comply with all requests for consultations or reports from the labour authorities (sections 290(f) and 304(c)), the Committee considers that such a requirement should be limited to members' complaints of breaches of the law or of their rules.

3. With regard to the ban on trade union involvement in political matters (section 305(a)), the Committee is therefore of the view that both legislative provisions which establish a close relationship between trade union organizations and political parties and those which prohibit all political activities for trade unions give rise to serious difficulties with regard to the principles of the Convention. Some degree of flexibility in legislation is therefore desirable, so that a reasonable balance can be achieved between the legitimate interest of organizations in expressing their point of view on matters of economic or social policy affecting their members and workers in general, on the one hand, and the separation of political activities in the strict sense of the term and trade union activities, on the other (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 133). The Committee requests the Government to specify the scope of this provision.

4. With regard to the requirement that for a strike to be called, its sole purpose must be the direct protection of the workers' occupational interests (section 358(a) and 376(a)), taking into consideration that section 366 of the new Labour Code allows sympathy strikes and general strikes to be called, the Committee requests the Government to indicate how these provisions are applied in practice so that it can determine whether they are in conformity with the Convention, and especially as regards the possibility of using strike action to support workers' demands in seeking solutions to economic and social policy questions.

5. With regard to the obligation to ensure a minimum service in the event of a strike in public services which are essential to the community (section 362 of the new Labour Code), the Committee recalls that workers' organizations should be able, if they so wish, to participate in defining such a service, along with employers and the public authorities.

The Committee asks the Government to inform it in its next report of all measures it has adopted to comply fully with the provisions of the Convention in relation to the above-mentioned points.