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

Rural Workers' Organisations Convention, 1975 (No. 141) - Guatemala (Ratification: 1989)

Article 3 of the Convention. The right of rural workers to establish organizations of their choosing without previous authorization. The Committee notes the observations of the Trade Union of Workers of Guatemala (historical UNSITRAGUA), received on 22 October 2014, on the situation of agricultural workers in Guatemala. The Committee notes that historical UNSITRAGUA reports widespread anti-union practices in smallholdings in the country, including many anti-union dismissals and, in some cases, threats, acts of violence and murders. UNSITRAGUA maintains that the alleged anti-union practices result in a 1 per cent trade union membership rate in the agricultural sector. The Committee notes that the acts of violence reported by UNSITRAGUA are being examined by the Committee in relation with the application of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and by the Committee on Freedom of Association as part of Case No. 2609. With regard to the alleged anti-union practices preventing the exercise of trade union activity in the agricultural sector, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on action taken by the labour inspectorate to ensure that rural sector workers can freely exercise their right to organize. The Committee also requests the Government to provide statistics on the number of existing rural workers’ trade unions and associations in the country, and on the number of their members.

Articles 4–6. Development of rural workers’ organizations and their role in economic and social development. The Committee recalls that the Convention not only establishes that rural workers shall freely exercise their right to organize but also provides that the State shall further the development of rural workers’ organizations and promote their participation, through their organizations, in economic and social development. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on measures taken to facilitate, first, the establishment and growth, on a voluntary basis, of strong and independent organizations of rural workers and, second, their participation in the economic and social development process of the country. The Committee also requests the Government to send information on the number of collective agreements in force in the rural sector and the number of workers covered.