Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

In the observation it made in 1989 the Committee noted the comments made by the Trade Union International of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers (communicated in a letter dated 9 March 1988) respecting the application of Article 12, paragraph 2, of the Convention. According to these comments, workers who are members of the Union of Offshore and Onshore Workers of Côte d'Ivoire (SYNTRAOFFCI), who were recruited by intermediary companies on behalf of oil companies, did not receive certain amounts owed as a final settlement of all wages due upon termination of their contracts in 1984. In reply to the above comments, the Government indicated that an ad hoc committee had been set up to examine the complaints of the workers in question, but that the workers had refused to divulge the method used to calculate the amount that they were claiming and to submit the documents needed to check their claims. The Committee requested the Government to continue to provide information on the results of measures taken to settle the claims of the workers concerned and to transmit a copy of the judicial decisions handed down to this effect.

In its last report, the Government indicates that the technical subcommittee set up to examine the claims of the above workers has not yet commenced work and that the workers concerned still refuse to submit the documents needed to check the rights that they are claiming, despite the intervention of their central trade union organisation. It adds that the Minister of Labour has, in his possession, a list of the workers claiming wages but that this list does not indicate the basis used to determine these amounts despite repeated requests by the competent authority.

The Committee notes this information and hopes that the arrival in Côte d'Ivoire of the Secretary-General of the Trade Union International of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers, mentioned by the Government in its report who is due to meet the administrative authorities and trade unions concerned, will contribute to finding a solution to the claims of the workers affected. The Committee once again requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this matter.