Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - United States of America (Ratification: 1991)

The Committee has taken note with interest of the Government's first three reports on the application of the Convention.

Article 1(d) of the Convention. In its first report, the Government indicated that the Federal Bureau of Prisons Regulations concerning the treatment of pre-trial detainees ensure that persons jailed for contempt of court in connection with an unlawful strike may not be made to work. In its last report, the Government indicates that effective 22 November 1994, those rules were slightly modified, but that the revised rules still guarantee that no pre-trial inmate may be required to work, other than housekeeping tasks in his/her cell or community living area, unless the inmate waives - in writing - his or her right not to work. Furthermore, such a waiver may be rescinded at the inmate's request. Therefore, these modified rules in no way limit US application of Convention No. 105.

The Committee takes due note of these indications. It understands that contempt of court can be classified as either civil or criminal, and that persons imprisoned for civil contempt are assimilated to pre-trial detainees who are not required to perform prison labour. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report whether violation of a no-strike injunction could be classified as criminal contempt, with the consequence that due process would attach and the contemner could then be convicted and sentenced.