Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1998, publiée 87ème session CIT (1999)

1. Article 1(d) of the Convention. In its earlier comments the Committee noted that in case of a planned or current strike in an industry considered indispensable to the national interest, the Secretary of Labour and Employment may assume jurisdiction over the dispute and decide it or certify it for compulsory arbitration. Furthermore, the President may determine the industries indispensable to the national interest and assume jurisdiction over a labour dispute (section 263(g) of the Labour Code, as amended by Act No. 6715). The declaration of a strike after such assumption of jurisdiction or submission to compulsory arbitration is prohibited (section 264), and participation in an illegal strike is punishable by imprisonment (involving under section 1727 of the Revised Administrative Code an obligation to perform labour) of up to three years (section 272(a) of the Labour Code). The revised Penal Code also lays down sanctions of imprisonment (section 146).

2. The Committee noted from the Government's report received in November 1994 that amendments to section 263(g) of the Labour Code had been proposed in Senate Bill No. 1757 which sought to limit the situation only to disputes affecting industries performing essential services and that the Bill had been filed with Congress. The Government's latest report on the application of the Convention contains no new information on this subject. The Committee therefore wishes to point out once again, with reference to paragraph 123 of its 1979 General Survey on the abolition of forced labour, that any compulsory arbitration enforceable with penalties involving compulsory labour must be limited to services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. The Committee trusts that the Government will soon be in a position to indicate progress in bringing the legislation into conformity with the Convention.

It has raised several other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.