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The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes that in a previous report the Government had stated that freedom of association is essentially governed by Act No. 83 of 1990 on citizens' associations.

In this respect, the Committee emphasizes the importance it attaches to observance of Article 2 of the Convention which provides that workers without distinction whatsoever (whether they are nationals or foreigners residing legally in the country) have the right to establish and join associations.

The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken or contemplated to ensure that this right is guaranteed by the law.

Furthermore, the Committee notes that in order to call a strike, section 17 of the 1990 Act on collective bargaining requires the vote of half the workers in the enterprise to whom the agreement at the enterprise level applies or the vote of half the workers to whom the higher level collective agreement applies. The Committee is of the view that account should be taken only of the votes cast, and that the required quorum and majority should be fixed at a reasonable level (see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 170).