Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151) - Peru (Ratification: 1980)

Article 7 of the Convention. Participation of public employees’ organizations in the determination of their terms and conditions of employment. The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Workers of Peru (CTP), the Autonomous Workers’ Federation of Peru (CATP) and the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) regarding the Civil Service Act, No. 30057 of 4 July 2013, which were received, respectively, on 29 August, 1 September and 22 September 2014. The CATP and the CGTP indicate that Act No. 30057, as well as the country’s budgetary laws, deny public employees the right to collective bargaining and to participate in the determination of their remuneration and in other subjects with financial implications.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that: (i) in a report dated 4 February 2014, the Office of the People’s Ombudsman concluded that sections 42, 43 and 44 of Act No. 30057 have an unjustified impact on the right to collective bargaining; and (ii) in a ruling of 22 May 2014, the Constitutional Court, although there was no majority to find in favour of the appeal against the constitutionality of Act No. 30057, urged the Congress of the Republic, on the basis of the Convention, to adopt legislation establishing a mechanism allowing genuine dialogue between public employees and the public administration on remuneration.

The Committee notes that the budgetary laws for the public sector for the financial years 2013 and 2014 (Act No. 29951 and Act No. 30114) prohibit the adjustment, increase or establishment of any form of income for public sector workers, through whatever procedure. The Committee also notes that section 42 of Act No. 30057 explicitly provides that civil servants shall be entitled to request improvements in their non-financial terms and conditions, including changes in conditions of work or conditions of employment, in accordance with the budgetary and infrastructural possibilities of the institution and the nature of the functions discharged. Finally, the Committee notes that section 43 of the Act defines the terms and conditions of work or employment which may be subject to negotiation, such as holidays, leave, training, uniforms, the working environment and in general all those which facilitate the activities of civil servants, and that section 44(b) provides that, during the course of negotiations, counter proposals or proposals by the institution relating to economic compensation shall have no legal basis.

The Committee notes with concern that the legislative provisions referred to above exclude any machinery for participation, including collective bargaining, in the determination of matters relating to wages or with financial implications throughout the public sector, which is in violation of Article 7 of the Convention which, by referring to negotiation or the participation of public employees’ organizations in the determination of terms and conditions of employment, includes their financial aspects.

Recalling the Government’s specific obligations under the terms of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), with regard to the right of collective bargaining of public employees who are not engaged in the administration of the State, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the legislation into conformity with Articles 4 and 6 of Convention No. 98 in relation to collective bargaining on wage matters with the organizations representing that category of public employees, and with Convention No. 151, in order to ensure the existence with regard to officials engaged in the administration of the State, of machinery for participation in the determination of their terms and conditions of employment, including remuneration and other subjects with financial implications. The Committee requests the Government to report any developments in this respect and reminds it that it may have recourse to the technical assistance of the Office.

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