Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Guinea (Ratification: 1959)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

Repetition

The Committee recalls that in its previous comments the Committee raised a number of points about the national legislation as follows:

• – the need for measures to set up an independent body that has the trust of the parties and is able to rule promptly on difficulties encountered in defining the minimum service where the parties are unable to agree as to the minimum service in transport and communications (which are not deemed essential in the strict sense of the term); and
• – the need for measures to ensure that compulsory arbitration (established in sections 342, 350 and 351 of the Labour Code) is restricted to cases where the two parties agree to request it, in essential services in the strict sense of the term, or in the event of acute national crisis.

The Committee trusts that the Government will take the measures requested very shortly, in consultation with the representative organizations of employers and workers concerned, and asks it to provide information on any developments in the situation.

The Committee reminds the Government that it may seek technical assistance from the Office, if it so wishes.

The Committee recalls that the 2008 International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) comments reported assaults, by the security forces, on demonstrators and strikers, as a result of which around 40 people died and nearly 300 others were injured, arrests of trade unionists and the destruction of the headquarters of the National Confederation of Workers of Guinea (CNTG). The Committee recalls that a climate of violence in which murders and disappearances of trade union leaders go unpunished, constitutes a serious obstacle to the exercise of trade union rights and that such acts require severe measures to be taken by the authorities. When disorders have occurred involving loss of human life or serious injury, the setting up of an independent judicial inquiry is a particularly appropriate method of fully ascertaining the facts, determining responsibilities, punishing those responsible and preventing the repetition of such acts (see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 29).

Finally, the Committee noted the comments made by the ITUC, dated 24 August 2010, on the application of the Convention, in particular, the allegations concerning the search of the home of the General Secretary of the CNTG by military forces. The Committee recalls that any search of unionists’ homes without a court order constitutes an extremely serious infringement of freedom of association. The Committee requests the Government to provide its observations on all the comments made by the ITUC.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.

Finally, the Committee notes the comments submitted by the ITUC, dated 4 August 2011, which refer to matters previously raised by the Committee.