Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Switzerland (Ratification: 2000)

1. Effective tripartite consultations. The Committee notes the Government’s report for the period ending May 2006, which includes detailed reports of the sittings of the Tripartite Federal Commission on ILO Affairs of 4 March and 18 August 2005, 16 May 2006, and of the tripartite discussion of 28 November 2005. It also notes the comments made by the Swiss Federation of Trade Unions (USS) and the Confederation of Swiss Employers (UPS), forwarded with the Government’s report. As it requested in its previous observation, the Committee has therefore been in a position to examine full and updated information on the tripartite consultations required by the Convention, and particularly on the work of the Tripartite Federal Commission.

2. In its comments of September 2006, the USS indicates that the Tripartite Federal Commission does not fully discharge its function and that the views of the employers’ representatives are in most cases a pretext for immobility. According to the USS, no social partner should have a right of veto and, in the spirit of the Convention, which provides the basis for the Tripartite Federal Commission, each group should benefit from the same consideration. The UPS considers that the machinery for tripartite consultation established to give effect to the Convention cannot in any event replace the structure of social dialogue and direct collective bargaining between the social partners that is operational in Switzerland.

3. The Committee recalls that, at its 90th Session (June 2002), the International Labour Conference adopted a resolution concerning tripartism and social dialogue which indicates that social dialogue and tripartism have proved to be valuable and democratic means to address social concerns, build consensus, help elaborate international labour standards and examine a wide range of labour issues on which the social partners play a direct, legitimate and irreplaceable role. The Committee also notes that the USS, since the establishment of the Tripartite Federal Commission, has been calling for an improvement in the effectiveness of the procedures giving effect to the Convention. The Committee trusts that the Government and the social partners will continue to examine the manner in which the Convention is applied and that they will be able to report the initiatives taken to give satisfaction to all the parties involved in the consultations required by the Convention.

4. Training of participants and financing of procedures. The Committee notes the new concerns expressed by the USS on the possible need for training of the members and financing of the work of the Tripartite Federal Commission. The UPS indicates that the social partners sitting on the Tripartite Federal Commission are fully aware of ILO matters. In this context, the Government indicates that the USS has intervened concerning the mandate of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation in relation to the ILO technical cooperation project in the Balkans on support for trade union projects and the promotion of social dialogue. The Committee requests the Government and the social partners to continue providing information on the tripartite consultations held on other matters of common interest covered by Paragraph 6 of the Tripartite Consultation (Activities of the International Labour Organisation) Recommendation, 1976 (No. 152).