Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Central African Republic (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee takes note of the information contained in the Government's report.

The Committee recalls that its previous comments concerned the need to amend or repeal sections 1, 2 and 4 of Act No. 88/009 of 19 May 1988 on freedom of association and the protection of trade union rights, amending the Labour Code, in order to bring the legislation into fuller conformity with the Convention:

-- section 1 of the Act provides that any person having lost the status of worker cannot either belong to a trade union or take part in its leadership or administration;

-- section 2 provides that trade union officers must be members of a trade union;

-- section 4 provides that trade unions constituted in federations and confederations may group together in a single central national union;

1. Right of workers' organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom (Article 3 of the Convention). The Committee recalls that sections 1 and 2 of Act No. 88/009 of 19 May 1988 may infringe the right of organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom by preventing qualified persons, such as full-time union officers or pensioners, from carrying out union duties, and that there is also a real risk of interference by the employer through the dismissal of trade union officers, which deprives them of their trade union office (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 117). The Committee therefore repeats its request that excessive restrictions regarding the requirement that trade union officers must belong to the same occupation should be relaxed in order to ensure that first-level organizations can freely affiliate to federations and confederations, and that qualified persons, such as those employed by the trade unions or pensioners, may carry out union duties.

2. The right of workers' organizations to establish federations and confederations of their own choosing (Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention). The Committee had noted with interest that the new Constitution of 14 January 1995 enshrined the possibility of trade union pluralism and freedom of association (article 10). While noting that, according to the Government, section 30 of Act No. 61/221 introducing the Labour Code provides that trade unions can affiliate to form associations, the Committee recalls that section 4 of Act No. 88/009 of 19 May 1988 amending the Labour Code still provides that trade unions constituted in federations and confederations may group together in a single central national union. Given that the Government had indicated in its previous reports that legislation would be adopted to implement the constitutional provisions, the Committee once again requests it to communicate the relevant texts as soon as they are adopted to repeal the reference to a single central national union contained in Act No. 88/009 of 19 May 1988.

3. Articles 3 and 10 of the Convention. Furthermore, the Committee draws the Government's attention to section 11 of Ordinance No. 81/028 of 1984 concerning the Government's power of requisition in the event of a strike, when so required by the "general interest". The Committee considers it necessary to restrict powers of requisition to cases in which the right to strike may be limited or even prohibited, namely in services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population or in a situation of acute national crisis see (see General Survey, op. cit., paragraphs 152 and 159).

The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in its next report of any change in the situation in either legislation or practice and, in particular, to indicate the measures taken to amend sections 1, 2 and 4 of the 1988 Act as well as section 11 of the 1984 Ordinance in order to bring them into full conformity with the requirements of the Convention.