Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Grenada (Ratification: 1994)

With reference to its direct request of 2000, the Committee notes that, in its last report for the period ending September 2002, the Government once again states that the practice of tripartism exists in the country both in practice and in law. In this respect, it refers once again to the tripartite composition of the delegation of Grenada to the International Labour Conference and of the Labour Advisory Board, established by virtue of section 51 of the Employment Act, 1999, which meets every month to discuss matters relating to labour.

The Committee wishes to recall that, in ratifying the Convention, the Government undertook to operate procedures which ensure effective tripartite consultations with respect to matters concerning the activities of the International Labour Organization covered by the Convention. It trusts that the Government will indicate in its next report the manner in which effect is given to the Convention by replying to the questions raised in the report form under each Article. The Committee also believes that it is useful to add the following.

Article 2 of the Convention. The Government is requested to describe the form of the consultation procedures established within the Labour Advisory Board by forwarding copies of the texts governing its composition and operation. In order to ensure the application of this Article, in accordance with paragraph 1, the consultations envisaged by the Convention have to address each of the matters enumerated in Article 5, paragraph 1. The consultation procedures must be effective, that is they must provide employers’ and workers’ organizations with an opportunity to express their views usefully on the above matters. To this effect, the consultations must necessarily be held prior to the definitive decision by the Government.

Article 5, paragraph 1. Please give particulars of the consultations held on each of the matters referred to below, including information as to the frequency of such consultations and the nature of any reports or recommendations made as a result of them. In this respect, the Committee recalls that certain of the matters covered (replies to questionnaires, submissions to the competent authorities, reports to be made to the ILO) imply an annual consultation, while others (re-examination of unratified Conventions and of Recommendations, proposals for the denunciation of ratified Conventions) require less frequent examination.

(a)  (Items on the agenda of the Conference.) Under this provision, the Government is bound to consult the representative organizations of employers and workers before finalizing the text of its replies to ILO questionnaires.

(b)  (Submission to the competent authorities of Conventions and Recommendations.) On this matter, the Committee refers to the comments that it has been making for several years regretting that the Government has not provided information on the submission to Parliament of the instruments adopted by the Conference. It recalls that the Convention goes beyond the obligation set out in article 19 of the ILO Constitution by calling upon the Government to consult the representative organizations before finalizing the proposals to be submitted to Parliament in relation to the obligation to submit the instruments adopted by the Conference.

(c)  (Re-examination of unratified Conventions and of Recommendations.) Tripartite consultations on this subject are intended to promote the implementation of international labour standards by enabling the Government to envisage, in the light of changes in national law and practice, measures which could be taken with a view to facilitating the ratification of a Convention or the application of a Recommendation to which it was not possible to give effect at the time of their submission. In giving effect to this provision of the Convention, the Government could envisage tripartite consultations on the fundamental Conventions, namely No. 111 of 1958 respecting discrimination, No. 138 of 1973 on minimum age and No. 182 of 1999 on the worst forms of child labour, which have not yet been ratified by Grenada.

(d)  (Reports on ratified Conventions.) This provision goes beyond the obligation set out in article 23, paragraph 2, of the Constitution to communicate reports; it consists of undertaking consultations on the problems which may arise in the reports due under article 22 on the application of ratified Conventions; in general, these consultations concern the contents of replies to the comments of the supervisory bodies.

(e)  (Proposals for the denunciation of ratified Conventions.) Under the terms of this provision, the Government is bound to consult the representative organizations when it envisages denouncing a ratified Convention. For example, the Government could consider making use of this provision of the Convention to give effect to the recommendations of the Governing Body of the ILO, which has invited States parties to the Recruiting of Indigenous Workers Convention, 1936 (No. 50), the Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939 (No. 64), the Penal Sanctions (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1939 (No. 65), and the Contracts of Employment (Indigenous Workers) Convention, 1947 (No. 86), which have all been ratified and are still in force in Grenada, to envisage the ratification of the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169), and the simultaneous denunciation of Conventions Nos. 50, 64, 65 and 86.

Article 6. In accordance with this provision, the Government is under the obligation to consult the representative organizations of employers and workers on the necessity of issuing an annual report on the working of the procedures provided for in the Convention. Please give particulars of the consultations that have taken place on this question and their outcome.

The Committee recalls that the Government can call upon, if it considers it appropriate, the advice and assistance of the Office on this subject. It hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide information in its next report on the matters raised in this direct request.