Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Saint Lucia (Ratification: 1980)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments. The Committee informs the Government that, if it has not supplied replies to the points raised by 1 September 2021, then it may proceed with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal at its next session.

Repetition

Articles 1, 2, 4 and 6 of the Convention. For several years, noting that the “protective services” – which include the fire services and correctional officers – were excluded from the Registration, Status and Recognition of Trade Unions and Employers’ Organizations Act, 1999, the Committee had requested the Government to take the necessary measures in order to grant fire service personnel and correctional staff the rights and guarantees provided for in the Convention. The Committee notes that the Labour Act 2006, which entered into force on 1 August 2012, repeals the Registration, Status and Recognition of Trade Unions and Employers’ Organizations Act, 1999. It further notes that section 355 of the Labour Act 2006 also excludes “protective services” (which according to section 2 of the Act include the fire service and the correctional services) from the scope of application of the provisions which are dealing with the right to bargain collectively in the new legislation. Noting that the Government indicates in its report that fire service personnel and prison staff benefit in practice from the right to collective bargaining, and that the issue would be raised with the Minister of Labour, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to expressly grant in the legislation the right to collective bargaining to fire service personnel and correctional staff.

The Committee expects that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.