Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Colombia (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee asks the Government to indicate in its next report whether the provision contained in section 366(4)(c) of the Labour Code, whereby an application for registration by a new works union may be rejected if there is already an organisation of the same category in the enterprise also applies if the trade union that is applying for registration has a greater number of members than the trade union that is already registered.

Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the following matters raised in the report of the direct contacts mission:

- the mass dismissals in the public sector (Act No. 60 and the decrees issuing its implementing regulations) and the growing use of short-term contracts (including contracts of less than 30 days) in both the private sector (Act No. 50) - including by placement agencies or temporary employment agencies - and the public sector, are considerably weakening the trade union movement and are liable to be used for anti-trade union purposes;

- in the legislation, works unions are given virtually absolute precedence over industrial unions: collective bargaining at the occupational union level is very rare because, amongst other reasons, the federations and confederations cannot negotiate directly (they act only in an advisory capacity for their members in the event of disputes, pursuant to section 426 of the Labour Code), and an industrial union can only negotiate collectively or declare a strike if more than half of the workers in the enterprise are members (section 376 of the Code). In addition, section 429 of the Code defines a strike as "the collective, temporary and peaceful suspension of work by the workers of an establishment or enterprise for economic or occupational purposes ...". This implies that the reference for the declaration of a strike is the enterprise and that sympathy strikes or strikes declared directly at different levels of the enterprise are excluded. Trade union activities are thus indirectly subject to conditions, or even actually restricted;

- section 358 of the Code provides that trade union statutes can restrict the admission of high-ranking employees to first level unions; section 389 provides that neither members representing the employer before his workers nor members of the top management of an enterprise can be members of the executive of a trade union (section 389). According to the federations, employers unilaterally determine who shall represent them and this has given rise to abuse. The mission did not have the opportunity to take this point up with the authorities.

The Committee hopes that in its next report, the Government will provide information in this regard.