Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Trinidad and Tobago (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee has been referring for a number of years to the need to amend various sections of the Industrial Relations Act (IRA), as amended, so as to: (i) enable a simple majority of the workers in a bargaining unit (excluding those workers not taking part in the vote) to call a strike (section 59(4)(a)); (ii) ensure that any recourse to the courts by the Ministry of Labour, or by one party only, to end a strike is limited to cases of strikes in essential services in the strict sense of the term (sections 61 and 65); (iii) ensure that prohibition of industrial action in essential services is limited to cases of strikes in essential services in the strict sense of the term (section 67); and (iv) repeal the prohibition of industrial action, under penalty of 18 months’ imprisonment, for the teaching service and employees of the Central Bank (section 69).

The Committee had noted that the Government had indicated that the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro-Enterprise Development has engaged in an exercise of strategic planning to achieve the goals of the country’s “Developmental plan, vision 2020” which recognizes that decent work is central for the social and economic development of the country. In this regard, matters related to freedom of association and the right of workers to organize are accorded high priority. Diverse mechanisms and measures to promote and protect the freedom of association and the right to organize have been adopted, in particular: (i) integration of labour issues in policies and programmes at national, sectoral, enterprise and industry levels; (ii) review of labour legislation; and (iii) effective dialogue with social partners. With respect to the amendment of the IRA, the Government further indicated that the Standing Tripartite Committee on Labour Matters, which consults and advises on proposed labour legislation, has not been reconstituted since its term expired in December 2006. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that from and since the last report, there have not been any amendments to the IRA. However, the IRA has been included in the Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development’s Legislative Review Programme for the period 2010–11 and it is anticipated that amendments to the sections listed by the Committee will be addressed within this programme.

In these circumstances, the Committee hopes that concrete measures will be taken in the near future to amend the legislation so as to bring it into conformity with the Convention. The Committee expects the Government to communicate progress on these issues in its next report and recalls that it can avail itself of the technical assistance of the Office.

ITUC’s comments. The Committee notes the comments from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) dated 24 August 2010 which refer to issues already raised by the Committee, as well as: (i) acts of repression against demonstrators and the detention of a trade union leader; and (ii) the exclusion of the right to legally join trade unions to certain categories of workers under the law (e.g. domestic workers, drivers, gardeners). The Committee requests the Government to provide its observation thereon as well as on the comments submitted by ITUC in 2008.