Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Papua New Guinea (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee notes the Government's report and recalls that its previous comments dealt with the need to amend the provisions of the national legislation which give the authorities discretionary power to cancel arbitration awards or agreements concerning wages void when they are contrary to government policy or the national interest (section 42 of the Industrial Relations Act, covering the private sector, and section 52 of the Public Service and Teaching Conciliation and Arbitration Act, as amended in 1983).

In its previous reports, the Government indicated that over the past 21 years it had only made use of the powers conferred upon it to modify an arbitration award on three occasions, but it also indicated that measures would be taken to amend these provisions of the national legislation in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention.

In its last report, the Government limits itself to indicating that due to the material difficulties affecting the Department of Labour and Employment, the proposed amendments to which it had referred have not been completed and that examination of the matter has been postponed.

In these circumstances, the Committee once again recalls that the obligation to submit an arbitration award or a wages agreement to the approval of the authorities, which may declare clauses void because they run counter to the policy or the national interest, is incompatible with Article 4 of the Convention. A system of official approval is acceptable only in so far as the approval can be refused on grounds of form and where the clauses of a collective agreement do not conform to the minimum standards set out in the labour law. Furthermore, rather than subject the validity of collective agreements to government approval, steps should be taken to persuade the parties to collective bargaining to have regard voluntarily in their negotiations to major economic and social policy considerations and the general interest invoked by the Government. To achieve this, the considerations should be widely discussed by all parties at the national level through a consultative body.

The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to take measures to amend the law to give effect to its comments and to supply information in its next report on the progress achieved in this respect. It also requests the Government to supply detailed information on cases in which it has used the powers conferred upon it by the legislation to modify the clauses of an arbitration award or wage agreement, and on the effect given to the Convention in practice (number of collective agreements, sectors, workers covered).