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The Committee notes with interest the report of the direct contacts mission which visited the country in February 2000. The Committee also notes the observations made by the Maritime Transport Workers Union (UNIMAR), the Single Confederation of Workers (CUT), the General Confederation of Democratic Workers (CGTD), the Confederation of Workers of Colombia (CTC), the Trade Union of Telecommunication Workers of Santa Fe de Bogotá (SINTRATELEFONOS), the Trade Union of Textile Industry Workers (SINTRATEXTIL) and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) regarding the application of the Convention and it requests the Government to forward its comments in this regard to the Committee.

Recognition of the right to collective
bargaining of public employees

The Committee notes with interest that, according to the report of the direct contacts mission, the President of the Republic undertook to ratify the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151), and the Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154). The Committee also notes with interest that, during the direct contacts mission, draft legislation was prepared guaranteeing the right of collective bargaining for public employees and the Government undertook to submit the above draft to the social partners and subsequently to Congress. The Committee hopes that when the consultations have been completed, the draft text will be submitted promptly to Congress. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this respect.

Recognition of the right of federations and
confederations to engage in collective bargaining

The Committee recalls that in its previous observation it requested the Government, in consultation with the social partners, to take measures to ensure that the right to collective bargaining is also recognized for federations and confederations. In this respect, the Committee notes that the Government informed the direct contacts mission that "federations and confederations, with the exception of the calling of strikes (a question which is addressed in the proposed amendments suggested by the mission), have the same powers as the trade unions (including the right to collective bargaining) under section 417 of the Substantive Labour Code; in addition, section 467 expressly refers to the right to collective bargaining of federations without forgetting that trade union central organizations have concluded national-level agreements". The Committee appreciates having received this clarification.

Requirements to engage in bargaining
at the industry or branch level

In its previous observation, the Committee requested the Government to take measures to amend the legislative requirement that industrial or branch unions must represent more than 50 per cent of the workers in an enterprise in order to represent them for the purposes of collective bargaining (section 376 of the Labour Code). In this respect, the Committee notes that the Government informed the direct contacts mission that "as regards section 376 of the Code, which relates to the requirement for the trade union to comprise more than half the enterprise’s workers, this refers to a situation in which the effects of the collective agreement apply to all workers; when no trade union (enterprise or industry) meets the legal conditions to negotiate on behalf of all the workers, it can negotiate on behalf of its members, even if there are not very many of them; the difference lies in the fact that when over a third of the workers in an enterprise belong to an enterprise union, the collective agreement applies to all workers whether they are unionized or not (section 471), while in the case of an industrial union this proportion is replaced by the membership of the majority of workers for the same effect to be achieved". The Committee appreciates having received this clarification.