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

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

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report and, in particular, that work has begun on revision of the Labour Code.

It recalls that its previous comments related to sections 1, 2 and 4 of Act No. 88/009 of May 1988 on freedom of association and the protection of trade union rights, amending the Labour Code, and section 11 of Order No. 81/028 of 1984 concerning the Government’s power of requisition in the event of a strike:

-  section 1 of Act No. 88/009 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 of the Act provides that trade union officers must be members of a trade union;

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

The Committee noted in its previous reports that sections 1 and 2 of Act No. 88/009 may infringe the right of organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom. The Committee requested that the Government relax excessive restrictions concerning the requirement that trade union officers belong to the same occupation as the workers in order to ensure that qualified persons may carry out union duties. When legislation imposes conditions of this kind for all officers, there is a real risk of interference by the employer through the dismissal of trade union officers, which deprives them of their trade union office. In order to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention, it should be made more flexible, either by admitting as candidates persons who have previously been employed in the occupation concerned, or by exempting from the occupational requirement a reasonable proportion of the officers of the organization (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 117). In its latest report, the Government indicates that in sections 15 and 21 of a preliminary draft Labour Code, these restrictions have been replaced by more flexible provisions.

The Committee also noted that section 4 of Act No. 88/009 infringed the right of workers’ organizations to constitute federations and confederations of their choice. In its most recent report, the Government indicates that it has noted the relevance of this observation and abolished those provisions in the preliminary draft Code.

With regard to section 11 of Order No. 81/028 concerning the Government’s power of requisition in the event of a strike when so required in the general interest, the Committee emphasized that it was 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. The Government indicates in its report that the Council of Ministers will examine this issue in the very near future.

The Committee requests that the Government keep it informed of the progress made in the revision of the Labour Code and supply in its next report a copy of the preliminary draft Labour Code so that the Committee can examine its conformity with the provisions of the Convention.