Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Algeria (Ratification: 1962)

Article 4 of the Convention. Right of collective bargaining. The Committee notes that, according to the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), certain matters are excluded from the scope of collective bargaining under section 120 of Act No. 90-11 on industrial relations. The Committee recalls in this regard that it considers that measures taken unilaterally by the authorities to restrict the scope of negotiable issues for a collective agreement are generally incompatible with the Convention. The Committee nevertheless observes that the wording of section 120 does not establish an exhaustive list. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the collective agreements negotiated under section 120 of Act No. 90-11 on industrial relations could include elements relating to terms and conditions of employment and work other than those included in the list established under this provision.

The Committee notes that, according to the ITUC, the procedure provided for in sections 35 to 38 of Act No. 90-14 of the modalities of the exercise of the right to organize, which obliges trade union organizations to provide information on their representativeness to the employer or the competent administrative authority at the beginning of each year, in order to be able to participate in collective bargaining, amounts to conferring the power to determine the most representative organization, upon the employer or the administrative authority concerned. Recalling that the determination of representativeness for the purpose of collective bargaining should be carried out by an independent body that enjoys the confidence of the parties, the Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in reply to the allegations of the ITUC.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the number of branch and enterprise collective agreements concluded between 1990 and 2015, and invites the Government to continue providing statistics on the number of collective agreements registered and, where possible, to indicate the sectors and number of workers covered.