Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Latvia (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. The Law on Trade Unions of 13 December 1990. The Committee notes that the Law on Trade Unions provides for the registration of unions which confers legal personality. A major condition for registration is that applicant unions "unite not less than 50 members or not less than one-fourth of the workforce in an enterprise, institution, organization, profession or branch". The Committee recalls that stipulating a minimum membership requirement as a condition for registration is not in itself incompatible with Article 2 of the Convention. However, the number should be fixed in a reasonable manner so that the establishment of organizations is not hindered (General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraphs 81 and 83). The Committee is of the view that the requirement laid down in the law is too high. The Committee therefore requests the Government to lower the minimum number necessary for setting up a workers' organization.

The Committee also requests the Government to state in its next report whether other laws or regulations are in force or in the pipeline concerning the exercise of the right to strike. It also requests the Government to indicate whether important restrictions which previously existed under the Soviet regime on the right of workers to participate in collective action aimed at disturbing transport operations or state or social institutions or undertakings, combined with severe sanctions, including sentences of imprisonment for up to three years, are still in force and, if so, to consider amending or repealing these provisions.

2. The Law on Public Organizations and their Associations of 15 December 1992. The Committee notes that according to the Government's latest report the right of employers to organize is laid down in the Law on Public Organizations and their Associations. However, employers are also referred to in the Law on Trade Unions: according to section 2, paragraph 2, of this law "employers can found their own trade union". It is therefore not entirely clear to the Committee whether this provision is designed to give managerial staff the right to organize or whether it means to say that employers may also set up their own organizations under the conditions spelt out in the Law on Trade Unions. The Committee therefore requests the Government to clarify, in its next report, the meaning of this provision.

The Committee also notes that according to section 1 of the Law on Public Organizations and their Associations a public organization can be founded by ten or more persons. The Committee considers that it is contrary to the Convention to require a minimum number of ten persons to set up an employers' organization and, in addition, to couple it with a provision giving the Ministry of Justice the power to cancel a registration if membership drops to less than ten members (section 33). The Government is therefore requested to lower the minimum number of persons or entities necessary to establish an employers' organization. It is also requested to amend section 33 of the Law on Public Organizations and their Associations accordingly.

The Committee also notes that according to section 24(1) state institutions shall monitor and control the activities of public organizations. Pursuant to section 24(2) officials "shall have the right to participate in the meetings of public organizations". The Committee considers that this provision might be incompatible with the right of employers to organize their activities and formulate their programmes in full freedom, as guaranteed in Article 3 of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to repeal this provision which seems to authorize officials to participate in the meetings of employers' organizations.

The Committee further notes that if a court terminates an organization's activities and cancels its registration it also shall, under section 37(2), order the confiscation of the property of the organization concerned on behalf of the State. The use of the property thus confiscated shall then be decided by the Government (section 39(3)). The Committee notes that this clause gives the Government wide discretionary power over the use of assets, contrary to Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee therefore requests the Government to repeal section 37(2).

The Committee finally notes that according to section 16(4) public organizations have, inter alia, the right to "maintain contacts with the public organizations of other countries". It requests the Government to spell out with greater precision the right of employer organizations to affiliate with international organizations of employers, as enshrined in Article 5 of the Convention.

Considering its above comments on the application of the Convention the Committee noted in its previous comments that a draft law on employers' associations was being prepared. It requests the Government to take into account its above comments when drafting the bill. It recalls that ILO technical assistance is available to the Government for preparing the bill. It also requests the Government to indicate in its next report the progress made with respect to this Bill and to provide a copy as soon as it is available.