Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 327, March 2002

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

1. 54. In its previous examination of Case No. 1987, the Committee requested the Government to keep it informed with regard to the reform of the Labour Code (requested by the Committee in its 313th Report) with regard to the following points: the excessive formalities for the recognition of a trade union and the acquisition of legal personality that were contrary to the principle of the free establishment of trade union organization (the requirement that the trade unions of independent institutions should be works unions), that made it difficult to set up a trade union (minimum number of 35 workers to establish a works union) or that in any case made it temporarily impossible to establish a trade union (the requirement for six months to have passed before applying to establish another trade union even if the previous one did not obtain legal personality) [see 326th Report, paras. 76 and 78].
2. 55. In its previous examination of Case No. 2085, the Committee requested the Government to keep it informed of any initiative by FESTSA to obtain legal personality. It also, once again, requested the Government to ensure that national legislation was amended so that it recognized the right of association of workers employed in the service of the State, with the sole possible exception of the armed forces and the police [see 326th Report, para. 81].
3. 56. In a communication dated 7 January 2002, the Government states that the Constitution of the Republic recognizes freedom of association and lists the various rights laid down in the legislation. The Government adds that public employees can meet in associative groups that conform to the civil laws of the country and that do not correspond to the organizational forms and practices of workers’ associations but that these groups must conform to the sovereign decisions and requirements of the country as laid down in the reforms to the Constitution of the Republic proclaimed by the Constituent Legislative Assembly in 1983 and to the Labour Code in 1994. These reforms were agreed upon on a tripartite basis at the national forum for consultation, resulting from the peace agreements, and with technical assistance support from the ILO. The Government indicates that the ILO itself refers to the reforms of the Labour Code of 1994 in a document published by the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, which states that regarding collective labour relations in El Salvador, the new law represented a very advanced text in relation to the other texts in force in Latin America in the past ten years. The Government plan, Alliance for Labour, envisages a strategic line towards the adaptation of the legal framework to conform to the requirements of the national and international labour market.
4. 57. The Committee hopes that the adaptation of the legal framework to which the Government refers will take place in the near future and will include all the reforms requested by the Committee. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect and points out that some of the points calling for reform, for example the need to guarantee the right of association for public employees, are in fact serious violations of that freedom. Finally, the Committee notes that the Government has not provided information on any steps that the trade union organization FESTSA may have taken to obtain legal personality and requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect.