Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

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

The Committee notes the observations made by the Congress of Argentinian Workers (CTA) on the application of the Convention and requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

The Committee notes that, at the request of the Government, a technical assistance mission visited the country in May 2001 to provide guidance to the Mixed Tripartite Commission established by the Government to analyse the observations made by this Committee on the application of the Convention. Following this mission, measures were adopted which give effect to some of the Committee’s previous comments.

In this respect, the Committee notes with satisfaction that, in accordance with the requests made by the Committee for many years, the National Executive Authority issued Decree No. 757/2001 providing that trade union associations which have merely been registered are entitled to defend and represent the individual interests of their members before the State, employers and the Sub-Secretariat of Labour Relations. It also notes with interest that the Federal Public Revenue Administration issued joint resolution No. 103/2001 and general resolution No. 1027 establishing that the activities and assets of trade union associations, which have been registered for the exercise of the rights deriving from sections 5 and 23 of the Act respecting trade union associations, benefit from the same tax status as non-profit organizations. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether, under the terms of this joint resolution, associations which are merely registered are exempt from the payment of taxes and duties, as provided in section 39 of Act No. 23551 respecting trade union associations.

The Committee also notes with interest that the Executive Authority has prepared draft legislation to amend section 28 of Act No. 23551 with regard to the size of the membership an association is required to have in order to contest the trade union status of another trade union and to repeal section 21 of Decree No. 467/88, which stipulates that the association must have a membership of at least 10 per cent higher than the union with current trade union status.

The Committee will address all of the matters that it raised in its previous observation at its next session during the regular examination of the application of the Convention, in the light of the information provided by the Government in its next report.