Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Nicaragua (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the comments made by the Association of Rural Workers (ATC) on the application of the Convention, and the Government's replies in this respect.

The ATC alleges the non-observance of the Convention in the formulation of a new Labour Code, which is intended to bring its provisions into conformity with the Convention, and the failure to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry of 1990 set up to examine the complaint made against Nicaragua in relation to the application of the Convention.

The Government states that the draft Labour Code was in general approved by the National Assembly, but that it still has to be discussed in detail, and that the speed of its approval depends on the legislature and not the executive authority. With a view to expediting the procedure, at the initiative of the Labour and Sectoral Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, a tripartite technical commission was established, composed of representatives of the Government (Ministry of Labour), employers (COSEP and UNAG) and workers (FNT and CPT), with a view to analysing in detail the draft Labour Code and submitting an agreed text to the full National Assembly for adoption. The Government regrets the abstention of the National Workers' Front, to which the ATC belongs, from the last meetings of the above commission.

With regard to the measures suggested by the Commission of Inquiry (para. 544, Nos. 2, 3 and 4), the recommendations made both by the above Commission and by the Committee of Experts for amendments to the labour legislation to bring it into conformity with Convention No. 87 were included in the draft of the new Labour Code, the progress of which is explained above.

The Committee once again hopes that the new Labour Code will be adopted as soon as possible and that it will respond to all the comments that the Committee has been making for a number of years relating to:

- guaranteeing the right of association to public servants, self-employed workers in the urban and rural sectors and persons working in family workshops;

- abolishing the requirement of an absolute majority of the workers of an enterprise or work centre for the establishment of a trade union (section 189 of the Labour Code);

- amending the provision on the general prohibition of political activities by trade unions (section 204(b) of the Labour Code);

- amending the obligation placed on trade union leaders to present to the labour authorities the registers and other documents of a trade union on application by any of the members of that union (section 36 of the Regulations on Trade Union Associations);

- lifting the excessive limitations on the exercise of the right to strike, such as the requirement of a majority of 60 per cent for calling a strike, prohibiting strikes in rural occupations when the produce may be damaged if it is not immediately available, and enabling the authorities to submit a dispute to compulsory arbitration in services which are not essential in the strict sense of the term (sections 225, 228 and 314 of the Labour Code).

The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on any progress achieved in this respect.