Interim Report - Report No 92, 1966

1. 168. The complaint of the Uganda Trades Union Congress is contained in a communication addressed to the I.L.O on 19 July 1965. The Government furnished its observations on the complaint in a letter dated 5 April 1966.
2. 169. Uganda has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), but has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 170. The complaint, apart from certain general allegations of intimidation of the trade unions by the Government, relates to various provisions of the Uganda Trade Unions Act, 1965, which, in the view of the complainants, are incompatible with the principles relating to freedom of association which are embodied in both the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98). In particular the complainants criticise section 5 (1) (d) of the Act, which provides that an application for registration of a trade union shall be refused if the Registrar is satisfied that a union already registered is sufficiently representative or is likely to become sufficiently representative of the interests concerned, section 10 relating to the registration of branch unions, section 23 (1) relating to the inspection of minutes of meetings by the Registrar, section 36 (1) prohibiting the payment of fines and penalties out of union funds, section 44 (1) prohibiting picketing in certain circumstances, and sections 53 to 59 relating to investigations into the affairs of trade unions.
2. 171. The Government contends that the provisions of the Act criticised by the complainants are not incompatible with Convention No. 98, which Uganda has ratified, but that, on the contrary, the Act promotes the establishment of machinery appropriate to national conditions for the purpose of ensuring respect for the right to organise which is in complete compliance with Article 3 of that Convention. As Uganda has not ratified Convention No. 87, the Government considers that, by virtue of article 24 of the I.L.O. Constitution, it is not subject to representations or complaints arising out of non-observance of that Convention. The Government, therefore, while giving the assurance that it is its policy to work towards establishing conditions which will permit of legislation complying fully with Convention No. 87, considers that for the reasons set out above the complaint is irreceivable and should be dismissed as groundless.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 172. The Committee wishes to make it clear that the complaint does not constitute a representation in accordance with article 24 of the I.L.O. Constitution, which is applicable only in respect of the alleged violation of a ratified Convention. The present complaint is receivable under the entirely separate procedure for safeguarding freedom of association and trade union rights which was set up by agreement between the United Nations and the I.L.O for the purpose of examining complaints in the light of generally accepted principles relating to freedom of association, irrespective of whether the relevant International Labour Conventions have been ratified by the governments concerned or not.
2. 173. While recognising therefore that Uganda has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Committee considers it appropriate to point out, as it has done in a number of past cases which have come before it under this procedure in which the governments concerned were not specifically bound by the provisions of a ratified Convention directly relevant to the allegations made, that the Declaration of Philadelphia, which now constitutes an integral part of the I.L.O. Constitution and whose aims and purposes are among those for the promotion of which the Organisation exists, as mentioned in article 1 of the Constitution as amended in Montreal in 1946, recognises:
   • " the solemn obligation of the International Labour Organisation to further among the nations of the world programmes which will achieve ... the effective recognition of the right of collective bargaining, the co-operation of management and labour in the continuous improvement of productive efficiency and the collaboration of workers and employers in the preparation and application of social and economic measures ".
   • In these circumstances the Committee, as it did in the earlier cases cited above, considers it appropriate that it should, in discharging the responsibility to promote those principles which has been entrusted to it, be guided in its task, among other things, by the provisions relating thereto approved by the International Labour Conference and embodied in the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), which afford a standard of comparison when examining particular allegations. Having regard to the above considerations, therefore, and while recognising that Uganda is not bound by the provisions of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Committee considers that its non-ratification is not a sufficient reason to cause the Committee to refrain from examining the substance of allegations based wholly or partly on the provisions of that instrument or principles proceeding from it, with a view to ascertaining the facts and reporting them to the Governing Body.
3. 174. The Committee considers also that it should recommend the Governing Body to draw the attention of the Government of Uganda to the resolution concerning freedom of association and protection of the right to organise adopted by the First African Regional Conference of the International Labour Organisation (Lagos, December 1960), which, in paragraph 7, " Requests the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation to invite governments in respect of whose countries complaints may be made to the Governing Body Committee on Freedom of Association to give their wholehearted co-operation to that Committee, in particular by replying to requests for observations made to them and by taking the fullest possible account of any recommendations which may be made to them by the Governing Body following examination of such complaints " and, in paragraph 8, " Requests the Governing Body to accelerate as far as possible the procedure of its Committee on Freedom of Association and to give greater publicity to the conclusions of the Committee, particularly when certain governments refuse to co-operate loyally in the consideration of complaints submitted against them."