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

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Angola (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s reply to the comments made by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the National Union of Angolan Workers – Trade Union Confederation (UNTA–CS) and the General Federation of Independent and Free Trade Unions of Angola (CGSILA). The Committee also notes the comments of the ITUC dated 4 August 2011 on matters already dealt with by the Committee, in particular those concerning restrictions on collective bargaining.

New Constitution. The Committee notes the adoption on 21 January 2010 of the new Constitution of the Republic, which recognizes: (1) freedom of assembly, demonstration and association of all citizens (sections 47 and 48); (2) freedom of occupational association of all workers in independent or liberal professions and all self-employed workers as a whole (section 49); and (3) workers’ right to organize and strike (sections 50 and 51).

Legislative reforms. In its previous comments, the Committee noted new Bills to revise the Collective Bargaining Act No. 21-A/92, the Trade Union Act No. 21-C/92 and the Strike Act No. 23/91, which contained some of the amendments it had suggested and underlined as necessary. The Committee had requested the Government:

• -to indicate whether the legislation guarantees the right to collective bargaining of public employees who are not engaged in the administration of the State and, if so, to indicate the relevant provisions. The Committee had also requested the Government to specify which public services were not organized in the form of an establishment whose employees were excluded from the scope of Act No. 20-A/92 by virtue of section 2 of this instrument. The Committee notes that, in its recent comment, the ITUC points out that collective bargaining is restricted in the public sector.
• – to send information on the collective wage bargaining of public employees who were not engaged in the administration of the State. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government stating that: (1) wages increases are negotiated within the Council for Social Dialogue which is a tripartite body; (2) there are difficulties in the area of collective bargaining in the country, and the Government has requested ILO technical assistance to cope with this problem. The Committee recalls that according to Article 4 of the Convention, all public servants other than those engaged in the administration of the State should enjoy the right to collective bargaining. The Committee hopes that the technical assistance requested will be provided in the near future and requests the Government to indicate whether the trade union organizations of public servants who are not engaged in the administration of the State have, under the new Constitution, the right to negotiate with their public employers on working conditions other than wages.
• -to amend sections 20 and 28 of the Collective Bargaining Act No. 20-A/92 which provide that collective labour disputes in public utility enterprises may be settled through compulsory arbitration by the Ministry of Labour, Public Administration and Social Security after the parties have been heard. The Committee had noted that the list of public utility activities (section 1.3) was much broader than the concept of essential services in the strict sense of the term (namely, services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population). The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the adoption of the new Constitution has had an impact on the validity of the provisions of Act No. 20-A/92. If not, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to amend – within the framework of the technical assistance requested by the Government – sections 20 and 28 of the Act in question so that compulsory arbitration may be imposed only in cases involving essential services in the strict sense of the term.

The Committee hopes that the Government will take account of all the comments made in order to bring the current legislation fully in line with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government once again to enclose a copy of the Bill revising the Collective Bargaining Act No. 20-A/92 with its next report, or the text that might have been adopted meanwhile.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.