Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Serbia (Ratification: 2000)

Article 2 of the Convention. Protection against interference. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that the Labour Act does not contain any explicit protection against acts of interference of workers’ and employers’ organizations in each other’s establishment, functioning and administration. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia (section 55) and the Labour Act (sections 6, 7, 206, 215, and 217), trade union organizations are established and act freely without conditioning by the state, other trade union, or employer organizations. The Committee notes that the mentioned provisions recognize the right of workers and employers to freely create and join independent organizations. The Committee recalls however the need for the adoption of specific legislative provisions in order to ensure an effective protection against interference within the meaning of the Convention. The Committee thereforeurges the Government to take the necessary measures to adopt specific provisions providing for full and adequate protection of workers’ and employers’ organizations against any acts of interference against each other, setting up rapid and impartial procedures as well as sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions against such acts, and to provide information on any developments in this regard.

Article 4. Collective bargaining in practice. The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government on the number of collective agreements concluded: (i) 20 special collective agreements (covering approximately 546 688 employees) were concluded and in force, which the Ministry, in accordance with the Labour Act, registers and publishes in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia; (ii) 20 additional collective agreements were concluded with the State as an employer, which in accordance with the Labour Act are not registered. TheCommittee requests the Government to continue providing information on the number of collective agreements concluded and in force, the sectors concerned, and the number of workers covered by these agreements, as well as on any additional measures undertaken to promote the full development and utilization of collective bargaining under the Convention.