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The Committee notes the Government's report and the discussions that took place at the Conference Committee in 1993, and recalls that its previous comments concerned:

-- the ban on public servants' forming unions (section 10(g) of the Civil Service and Administrative Careers Act of 8 December 1971);

-- the increase from 15 to 30 of the minimum number of workers required for the establishment of trade union associations, including works councils (sections 53 and 55 of the Labour Code, new sections);

-- the penalties of imprisonment for instigators of and participants in collective work stoppages (Decree No. 105, 7 June 1967);

-- the requirement that members of the executive committees of works councils be Ecuadorian (section 455 of the Labour Code);

-- the dissolution by administrative decision of a works council when its membership drops below 25 per cent of the total number of workers (section 461 of the Code);

-- the prohibition placed on unions from taking part in religious or political activities and the requirement that this must be established in union statutes (section 443(11) of the Code).

With regard to the draft reforms of the legislation to which the Government committed itself, the Committee regrets to note that they have still not been submitted to the National Congress. The Ministry of Labour has therefore contacted the President of the National Congress, through various channels, asking that the procedure be expedited as a matter of urgency.

The Committee expresses the firm hope that account was taken, in the drafting of the above-mentioned reforms, of the proposals made during the 1985 direct contacts mission and of the Committee's other comments. It expresses the hope yet again that the reforms will be adopted in the near future.

The Committee asks the Government in its next report to provide information on any positive developments in this matter and trusts that it will be able to note that the new legislation is in keeping with the principles and provisions of the Convention.

The Committee is also addressing a request directly to the Government.