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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Trinidad and Tobago (RATIFICATION: 1963)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on 31 August 2014 and 1 September 2015 on matters related to the application of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

The Committee notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) received on 1 September 2015.

The Committee also notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of organizations to organize their activities freely and to formulate their programmes. In its previous comments, the Committee has been referring for a number of years to the need to amend or repeal the following sections of the Industrial Relations Act (IRA): (1) section 59(4)(a) concerning the majority required for calling a strike; (2) sections 61(d) and 65 concerning recourse to the courts by either party or by the Ministry of Labour to end a strike; and (3) section 67 (in conjunction with the second schedule) and section 69 concerning services in which industrial action may be prohibited.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that: (1) the Industrial Relations Advisory Committee was established in February 2012, with the mandate, as stated in section 81 of the IRA, to keep this Act under review; (2) it has already commenced its review of the IRA with a view to making proposals to the minister for its development and reform, including in particular the modification of any of the provisions thereof; and (3) while noting that it can avail itself of the technical assistance of the ILO, the Government proposes to do so as work of the Industrial Relations Advisory Committee proceeds and should the need arise. The Committee takes note of these indications and hopes that concrete measures will be taken in the near future to amend or repeal the abovementioned sections of the IRA. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report any progress made in this respect.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.