Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Madagascar (Ratification: 1997)

1. Effective tripartite consultations. In its report received in October 2004, the Government indicates that due to the lack of sufficient resources, the consultation procedure used is to communicate documents to the social partners or to invite them to take note of them in the Labour Department so that they can make their observations, among others, on the matters set out in Article 5, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Noting that the Government is envisaging the determination within the National Employment Council (CNE) of procedures to ensure effective consultations between the representatives of the Government, employers and workers on the matters covered by the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the outcome of these consultations (Article 2 of the Convention).

2. Training. The Government reports tripartite meetings and seminars organized for the social partners, with the technical assistance of the Office. The Committee however recalls that, where training for participants in the consultations proves to be necessary to enable them to perform their functions effectively, its financing should be provided through appropriate arrangements between the Government and the representative organizations (paragraphs 125 and 126 of the General Survey of 2000 on tripartite consultation). The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether such arrangements have been made, in accordance with Article 4, paragraph 2, and, if so, to describe them.

3. Tripartite consultations required by the Convention. As Decree No. 97-1149 establishes the functions of the CNE in general terms, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate whether, in accordance with the Decree, consultations on the matters set out in Article 5, paragraph 1, are in practice held in the CNE. As it does not have information enabling it to assess whether the consultations required by the Convention have been held, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed and exhaustive information on the consultations carried out, among others, in the CNE on each of the matters set out in Article 5, paragraph 1, of the Convention during the period covered by the next report, specifying their subject and frequency, and the nature of any reports or recommendations resulting from these consultations.

4. Operation of the consultative procedures. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that no report has yet been issued on this subject and recalls that Article 6 does not impose an obligation to issue an annual report, but it does require that the representative organizations shall be consulted on whether or not such reports should be issued. The General Survey of 2000 indicates in this respect that the annual report could, for example, include information on the composition of any consultative bodies, the number of meetings, their agenda, the proposals made and the conclusions reached (paragraph 131). The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the representative organizations have been consulted on this matter, with an indication, if so, of the outcome of these consultations.