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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - El Salvador (RATIFICATION: 2006)

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities in full freedom and formulate their programmes. In its previous comments the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend article 221 of the Constitution of the Republic so as to limit the prohibition of the right to strike in the public service to officials who exercise authority in the name of the State and those who perform their duties in essential services in the strict sense of the term, pointing out that it is acceptable to restrict the right to strike through the establishment of minimum services in public services of high importance. The Committee notes that, according to the Government: (i) the present legislation seeks to place the public interest of the population above individual interests; and (ii) the comments of the Committee will be examined by the inter-institutional team responsible for analysing the feasibility of the legislative amendments requested. The Committee accordingly requests once again the Government to consider revising article 221 of the Constitution as indicated and to report on any developments in this regard.

In its previous comments the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to revise section 529 of the Labour Code (CT) so that when a decision is taken to call a strike, only the votes cast are taken into account, and so that the principle of the freedom to work of non-strikers and the right of employers and managerial staff to enter the premises of the enterprise or establishment are also recognized, even where the strike has been decided on by an absolute majority of the workers. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that the Committee’s comments will be examined by the inter institutional team responsible for analysing the feasibility of the amendments requested. The Committee accordingly requests once again the Government to revise section 529 of the CT as indicated and to report on all developments in this regard.

Declaring strikes unlawful. In its previous comments the Committee noted that section 553(f) of the CT provides that strikes shall be declared unlawful “where inspection shows that the striking workers do not constitute at least 51 per cent of the personnel of the enterprise or establishment”. The Committee expressed the view that this provision is inconsistent with section 529, second paragraph, which establishes the right to strike of unions representing at least 30 per cent of the workers in the enterprise or establishment and also restricts excessively the exercise of the right to strike. Noting that the Government indicates that section 553(f) of the CT is to be amended, the Committee requests the Government to report all progress in this matter.