Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

1. The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation on the following matters:

The Committee had examined in its previous observation the comments presented by the Confederation of Civil Servants Organizations (COFE) in June 1997: Article 7 of the Convention. The Committee considers firstly that the composition of the permanent Industrial Relations Committee (five members: two representatives of the executive, one from the Ministry of Economy and Finance and one from the Office of Planning and Budget, two representatives from the most representative organizations of public officials and the Minister of Labour and Social Security), which is de facto a joint committee, appears to be unsatisfactory due to an imbalance between the representatives of the authorities and the most representative trade union organizations. In any case, according to the comments made by COFE, it does not enjoy the confidence of these organizations. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to examine the possibility of modifying the composition of the permanent Industrial Relations Committee and to inform it accordingly. Secondly, the Committee notes that, in accordance with section 739 of Act No. 16736, the competence of the permanent Industrial Relations Committee is not restricted to advising on matters of wages, but also covers "advising on conditions of employment and matters covered by international labour Conventions". However, in the Committee's view, the broader statutory competence which appears to be restricted in practice to providing advice on conditions of employment and mediation is unsatisfactory. Finally, the Committee had noted in a previous direct request that the Government had provided assurances to the effect that a number of important collective agreements had been concluded in public institutions. In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to inform it, in its next report, of the procedures which enable public employees' representatives to participate in determining the terms and conditions of employment for public employees, as well as their contents and the territorial and personal scope of the collective agreements concluded in the public administration during the period covered by the report.

2. The Committee observes that in a communication of 21 November 1999, the PIT-CNT forwarded observations concerning the application of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments thereon.