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The right to organize for agricultural workers

The Committee notes from the Industrial Relations Ordinance that the term "worker" refers to any person who is employed in an establishment or industry for hire or reward either directly or through a contractor (section 2). Furthermore, "employer" is restrictively defined in relation to an establishment which means "any office, firm, industrial unit, undertaking, shop or premises in which workmen are employed for the purpose of carrying on an industry, i.e., any business, trade, manufacture, calling, service, employment or occupation" (section 2). While these definitions would seem to apply to industrial agriculture and agricultural farms run on a commercial basis, it would not appear to include the bulk of agricultural workers like self-employed farmers, sharecroppers and smallholders. Noting that Article 2 provides that all workers, without distinction whatsoever, should have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing, the Committee requests the Government to supply detailed information in its next report on the number of trade unions and associations of self-employed workers comprising persons engaged in agriculture and their membership, and on any legislative or other measures taken or envisaged to ensure in practice that workers engaged in agriculture including sharecroppers, tenants, farmers, small independent farmers, and other categories of agricultural workers working in small agricultural units enjoy full rights under this Convention.