Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Guyana (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee notes the Government’s detailed reply to the comments made by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU, now ITUC – International Trade Union Confederation).

The Committee notes that the Government did not deny the ICFTU’s comment to the effect that, in December 2005, it set the level of the public sector pay raise without consulting the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) – in breach of the collective agreement with the union. The Committee recalls the importance it attaches to the respect of collective agreements and requests the Government to ensure that collective agreements are respected in the future.

In its previous observation, the Committee referred to the recognition of only those unions claiming 40 per cent support of the workers, as set out in the Trade Union Recognition Act. The Committee takes note of the Government’s statement that, at the request of the Trades Union Congress, the Trade Union Recognition Act provided for the recognition of unions that were recognized prior to the Act without having to prove that they had majority support (section 32). All unions benefited from this provision which the Government says is no longer applicable as all certificates applicable under this section have been issued. Given that the representativeness of unions might change, the Committee recalls once again that, if no union covers more than 40 per cent of the workers in the bargaining unit, collective bargaining rights should be granted to all the unions in the unit, at least on behalf of their members (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 241). The Committee hopes that significant progress respecting this issue will be made in the near future and requests the Government to keep it informed of the results of the consultative process.