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

Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) - United Republic of Tanzania (Ratification: 1998)

The Committee notes with interest the information in the Government’s first report, and requests it to provide additional information on the following points.

1. Article 1, paragraph 3, of the Convention (scope of application). The Committee notes that civil servants with an annual maximum salary of less than £702 may bargain collectively through joint staff councils, whose functions are to negotiate the working conditions of junior civil servants, and whose members are appointed by the Minister. Furthermore, civil servants earning a maximum annual salary of £702 or more are excluded from the collective bargaining procedure, and are prohibited from joining trade unions by section 25(1) of the Civil Service Negotiating Machinery Act.

In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to indicate if joint staff councils for the negotiation of working conditions of junior civil servants do exist and function in practice. The Committee also requests the Government to take measures to amend the legislation in order to guarantee collective bargaining with trade union organizations of senior civil servants, taking into account that only high-level employees whose functions are usually considered as policy-making and managerial or employees whose duties are of a highly confidential nature could be excluded from the guarantees provided for in the Convention.

2. Article 5. The Committee notes that sections 5 and 25 of the Industrial Court Act of the United Republic of Tanzania permit administrative authorities to control the bargaining process by requiring that negotiated agreements be submitted to the Labour Commissioner and the Minister of Labour before being submitted to the Industrial Court for registration. The Committee also notes that registration of collective agreements may be refused on grounds other than where the terms and conditions are below the statutory minimum, or breach international standards, or for procedural irregularity. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that the Court may refuse to register a collective agreement on grounds that it is not in conformity with the Government’s economic policy. Furthermore, under section 39 of the Act, registration may be refused at the discretion of the Tribunal and section 27(1) of the Act stipulates that the decision cannot be appealed.

In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to take appropriate measures to modify the legislation so that:

-  the denial of registration of collective agreements could only be possible in cases where they have a procedural flaw or do not conform to the minimum standards laid down by the general labour legislation, and not when the authorities consider that they are contrary to the Government’s economic policy; and

-  the denial of registration by the Industrial Court could be appealed.