Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

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

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee notes with regret that there has been no change in the legislative situation, which has been the subject of its comments for many years. The revised draft of the Labour Code which has already been referred to several times and which was to eliminate the discrepancies between the national legislation and the Convention has not yet been adopted despite the Government's assurances to the Conference Committee in 1987. The Committee once again recalls the need to amend or repeal Decree No. 12 of 30 June 1980 which prohibits strikes, section 4601-A of the Labour Practices Law which prohibits agricultural workers from joining industrial workers' organisations, and section 4102, subsections 10 and 11, of the Labour Practices Law which provides for the supervision of trade union elections by the Labour Practices Review Board. The Committee observes that these provisions are still in force and that they are contrary to Articles 2, 3, 5 and 10 of the Convention. Furthermore, the Committee recalls that the right to associate of workers in state enterprises and the public service is still not recognised in the national legislation, despite the Government's assurances in previous reports that the Civil Service Act was to be amended in order to give statutory effect to the right of the workers in this sector to establish and join organisations of their own choosing, in accordance with Article 2 of the Convention. However, in its previous observation, the Committee noted from the information furnished by the Government to the Conference Committee in 1987 that, in practice, there are organisations of public servants and of rural workers, that strikes have occurred without sanctions being applied and that trade union elections are only supervised by the Ministry of labour at the invitation of the trade union organisation in question. Accordingly, the Committee again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to amend its legislation in respect of the above matters which have repeatedly been the subject of its comments.