Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Guyana (Ratification: 1967)

In its previous comment, the Committee had requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the Public Utility Undertakings and Public Health Services (Arbitration) Act, as amended in 2009, so as to ensure that only disputes in essential services in the strict sense of the term (services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population) could be referred to compulsory arbitration. In this respect, the Committee had observed that services listed in the Schedule of the Act, such as dockage, wharfage, discharging, loading or unloading of vessels or related services, do not constitute essential services in the strict sense of the term, and recalled that while some telecommunication services may constitute essential services, the broad formulation contained in the Schedule could apply to other non-essential services and thus unduly restrict the legitimate exercise of the right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities. The Committee further requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 19 of the Act, which sanctions the participation in an illegal strike by fines and imprisonment. The Committee recalled in that respect that no penal sanctions should be imposed against workers for having carried out a peaceful strike. The Committee notes with regret that in its report, the Government indicates that it is not at this time inclined to effect any change to its legislation. The Committee considers that it is the responsibility of the Government to ensure, in law and in practice, the application of the Convention which it has freely ratified. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the abovementioned legislation, in consultation with the social partners, so as to bring it into conformity with the Convention and to indicate in its next report any progress made in this respect.