Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Zambia (Ratification: 1996)

The Committee notes the Government’s reiteration in reply to the 2015 observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) concerning allegations of dismissals of workers in the mining sector on grounds of participation in strikes, that protests and strikes are allowed as long as they adhere to the Provisions of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act. The Committee takes note of the observations of the ITUC received on 1 September 2016 referring to matters under examination by the Committee.

Revision of the Industrial and Labour Relations Act (as amended by the Industrial and Labour Relations (Amendment) Act, 2008). The Committee had previously requested the Government to amend the following provisions of the Industrial and Labour Relations (Amendment) Act No. 8 of 2008 (ILRA) so as to bring them in conformity with articles 2 and 3 of the Convention:

Article 2 of the Convention

• -section 2(e), which excludes from the scope of the Act, and therefore from the guarantees afforded by the Convention, workers in the prison service, judges, registrars of the court, magistrates and local court justices, and section 2(2), which accords the Minister discretional power to exclude certain categories of workers from the scope of the Act.
• -section 5(b), which provides that an employee can only become a member of “a trade union within the sector, trade, undertaking, establishment or industry in which the employee is engaged” since it limits trade union membership to workers in the same occupation or branch of activity. In this respect, the Committee once again recalls that such conditions may be applied to first-level organizations, on condition that these organizations are free to establish inter-professional organizations, and to join federations and confederations in the form and manner deemed most appropriate by the workers concerned.
• -section 9(3), which sets a maximum of six months as the period of registration of a trade union, thereby constituting a serious obstacle to the establishment of organizations and amounting to denial of the right of workers to establish organizations without previous authorization.

Article 3

• -section 7(3), which allows a labour commissioner to prohibit a trade union officer from holding office in any trade union for a period of one year if, following the commissioner’s refusal to register the union, this union is not dissolved within six months. In this respect, the Committee once again recalls that an act, the nature of which is not such as to call into question the integrity of the person concerned and is not such as to be prejudicial to the performance of trade union duties, should not constitute grounds for disqualification from trade union office.
• -section 21(5) and (6), which confers on the Commissioner the power to suspend and appoint an interim executive board of a trade union, as well as to dissolve the board and call for a fresh election.
• -sections 18(1)(b) and 43(1)(a), under which, a person, having been an officer of an employers’ or workers’ organization whose certificate of registration has been cancelled, may be disqualified from being an officer of a trade union if that person fails to satisfy the commissioner that she or he did not contribute to the circumstances leading to such cancellation.
• -section 78(4), which limits the maximum duration of a strike to 14 days, after which, if the dispute remains unsolved, it is referred to the court; section 78(6)–(8), under which a strike can be discontinued if it is found by the court not to be “in the public interest”; section 78(1), under which, as interpreted by a decision of the industrial relations court, either party may take an industrial dispute to court; section 107, which prohibits strikes in essential services, defined too broadly, and empowers the Minister to add other services to the list of essential services, in consultation with the tripartite consultative labour council; and which empowers a police officer to arrest, without any possibility of bail, a person who is believed to be striking in an essential service and which imposes a fine and up to six months’ imprisonment.

The Committee notes with regret that the last review of the ILRA (Act No. 19 of 22 December 2017) failed to address the substantive issues pointed out by the Committee. The Committee expects that the ILRA will be further amended in the very near future following full and frank consultations with the social partners and taking into account the comments it has been making for many years. The Committee urges the Government to provide information on any progress made in this respect.

The Committee recalls that for a number of years it has been requesting the Government to address the issue of the recognition of the Zambia Union of Financial Institutions and Allied Workers (ZUFIAW) by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA). It had previously noted the Government’s indication that the enabling legislation may need to be reviewed to resolve the issue of recognition. The Committee notes with concern the Government’s indication in its report that the recognition of the ZUFIAW by the ZRA has been closed under guidance from the Ministry of Justice and the Bank of Zambia, as the ZRA is not in the sector represented by ZUFIAW. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information in this respect and to indicate whether workers of the ZRA can establish or join unions of their own choosing, without prior authorization as called for under the Convention.