Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - El Salvador (Ratification: 1995)

Tripartite consultations required by the Convention. The Committee notes that it has not received the report due in 2013. The Committee observes that 54 instruments adopted by the Conference are awaiting submission to the Congress of the Republic. The Committee invites the Government to intensify its efforts to hold the tripartite consultations required for the submission to the Congress of the Republic of the instruments adopted by the Conference. The Committee invites the Government to provide a report containing updated information on the tripartite consultations held on matters relating to international labour standards (Article 5(1) of the Convention).

Article 3(1). Election of representatives of the social partners to the Higher Labour Council. In its 2012 direct request, the Committee noted the concern expressed by the National Business Association (ANEP) and the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) as a result of the presentation, without having consulted the Higher Labour Council, of 19 legislative reforms designed to amend the employers’ participation in the management structures in certain tripartite institutions. In the communication received in August 2013, the ANEP again expressed concern at the fact that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, in a resolution dated 2 July 2013, stated that it was not authorized to influence the selection process of workers’ representatives on the Higher Labour Council. The Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has urged legally registered union federations and confederations to reach an agreement as soon as possible and to present a single list of the persons designated as workers’ representatives on the Higher Labour Council. The Committee notes that, in Case No. 2980, the Committee on Freedom of Association (368th Report, June 2013) requested the Government to, inter alia, ensure that representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations in tripartite bodies are designated freely by these organizations and that full consultations are held urgently with workers’ and employers’ organizations within the framework of the Higher Labour Council. The Committee recalls the importance of the free choice of representatives of workers and employers, in accordance with Article 3(1) of the Convention, as “only by allowing the organizations themselves to choose their representatives freely is it possible to guarantee that the participants in the consultation procedures are truly representative” (see 2000 General Survey on tripartite consultation, paragraph 42). The Committee invites the Government and the social partners to promote and strengthen tripartism and social dialogue so as to facilitate the operation of the procedures which ensure effective tripartite consultations (Article 2(1) of the Convention). It also invites the Government to provide a report enabling the Committee to examine progress in the operation of the Higher Labour Council in relation to the tripartite consultations required by the Convention.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2014.]