Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - REPORT_NO327, March 2002

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 81. The Committee last examined this case at its March 2001 meeting, on which occasion it had called upon the parties to come promptly to an agreement on all the modalities concerning the granting and use of time-off facilities to teachers’ unions [see 324th Report, paras. 63-65].
2. 82. In a communication dated 9 January 2002, the Government indicates that, on 1 June 2001, it decided that a committee chaired by the Ministry of Civil Service Affairs and comprising the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research would meet the relevant trade unions in order to reach an agreement on the issue of time-off facilities to teachers’ unions. The Committee met with the Government’s teachers’ unions on 21 June 2001 and again on 7 January 2002. The teachers’ unions expressed their appreciation that industrial relations had improved considerably and the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research had also been providing facilities to their members to attend workshops and seminars organized by the unions. It was also suggested that the Ministry could come to an understanding with the teachers’ unions to grant time-off facilities for trade union activities in accordance with the Ministry’s circular letter dated 7 June 1989 and that the principles laid down in the circular letter dated 8 May 1992, of the Head of the Civil Service, be respected. The Ministry also agreed to discuss the proposals put forward by the teachers’ unions at the ministerial level and report back as soon as possible so that another meeting could be fixed for a satisfactory conclusion of the issue.
3. 83. The Committee takes note of this information with interest and asks the Government to keep it informed of further developments in this matter.