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The Committee takes note of the Government’s report.

1. Comments of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The Committee further notes the observations submitted by the ICFTU in its communication dated 10 August 2006 with regard to the power of veto that the Ministry of Labour can use to annul collective agreements, as well as the acts of anti-union discrimination, particularly in the private sector, and refusals of employers to bargain collectively in practice. The ICFTU also states that under the draft Labour Code, civil servants are excluded from joining trade unions. The Committee requests the Government to communicate its observations on these comments in its next report.

2. Articles 2 and 4 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that its previous observation concerned the following legislative issues:

–      the need to provide for effective and sufficiently dissuasive sanctions that guarantee the protection of workers’ organizations against acts of interference by employers or their organizations;

–      the need to amend sections 32(6) and 34(2) of the Labour Code, so that refusal to register a collective agreement is only possible due to a procedural flaw or because it does not conform to the minimum standards laid down by the labour legislation and not on the basis of consideration of “economic interests of the country”.

The Committee further requested the Government to provide statistics on the number of workers covered by collective agreements in comparison with the total number of workers in the country.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the International Labour Office provided technical cooperation on the amendment of the Labour Code. The draft law was prepared with the help of the ILO specialist and an initial workshop was organized for its discussion. In addition to the comments on the draft law made by the International Labour Standards Department, the Ministry of Labour had also received comments made by the social partners. The Government states that it was currently awaiting the completion of the subsequent phase agreed upon by the Ministry of Labour and the ILO regarding the organization of a second and final tripartite workshop for the discussion of the draft amendment and the comments made by the Office. Once the final version of the draft, which would take into account the ILO’s comments and the discussion at the tripartite workshop, is prepared with the help of an ILO specialist, the Government would transmit a copy thereof to the Committee and would take the necessary measures for its submission to the competent authority for promulgation.

The Government informs that it shall endeavour to add provisions to the Labour Code on penal responsibility of employers committing acts of anti-union discrimination in order to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention and the observations of the Committee. With regard to the specific legislative amendments previously requested by the Committee, the Government furthers states that it will also take into account the comments made by the Committee on the need to provide for effective and sufficiently dissuasive sanctions to guarantee the protection of workers’ organizations against acts of interference by employers or their organizations, as well as on the need to amend sections 32(6) and 34(2) of the Labour Code so that refusal to register a collective agreement is only possible due to a procedural flaw or because it does not conform to the minimum standards laid down by the labour legislation. The Committee notes with interest these statements of political will of the Government to overcome the current problems with regard to the conformity of the legislation with the Conventions and the measures taken to this effect.

While noting that the process of formulating the draft legislative amendments appears to be going in the right direction, the Committee trusts that its previous observations will be fully reflected in the new legislation. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the draft Labour Code as soon as the final version of it is available.

In its previous comments, the Committee had requested the Government to provide statistics on the number of workers covered by collective agreements in comparison with the total number of workers in the country. As in its previous comment, the Government reiterates that the information and statistics on collective bargaining are not available. The Committee once again expresses the firm hope that the Government will be able to provide it with these statistics together with its next report.