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

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Latvia (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee notes 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:

The Committee notes that section 15 of the Trade Unions Law of 13 December 1990 grants protection to workers in general against acts of anti-union discrimination by not permitting the termination of a trade union member's employment contract on the initiative of the employer and without prior consent of the trade union except when labour discipline or conditions of the contract have been infringed. The Committee also observes that section 16 of the same legislation is aimed at protecting workers representatives. The Committee wishes to recall the importance it attaches to the necessity to provide adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination at the time of recruitment as well as in the course of employment to all workers. Such protection should cover all measures of anti-union discrimination and should be coupled with effective and expeditious procedures and with sufficiently dissuasive sanctions to ensure their application. The Committee therefore requests the Government to amend its legislation in order to put it more in line with the provisions of the Convention.

The Committee requests the Government to provide it with its comments with regard to the communication of the LBAS of 31 August 1995.

In addition, the Committee requests the Government to specify whether one party can initiate the recourse to arbitration provided for in section 16 of the Collective Labour Agreement Act or whether both parties need to apply jointly.