Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1989, published 76th ILC session (1989)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1973)

The Committee notes the report supplied by the Government.

The Committee notes that section 1 of the Decree issuing regulations under the General Labour Act provides that "agricultural workers are not subject to the provisions of the General Labour Act nor of these Regulations, ...". The Committee also notes that section 132 of the Decree respecting agricultural reform, of 2 August 1953, recognises that the organisation into trade unions of peasants is a means of defending the rights of their members but that, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 19524 of 26 April 1983, and Decree No. 20255 of 24 February 1984, issuing regulations thereunder, seasonal sugar cane and cotton workers have been incorporated under the provisions of the General Labour Act and its Regulations. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the draft of the new General Labour Act, which is currently being prepared, will extend the protection of the general labour legislation to permanent and seasonal agricultural workers, whether it contains provisions protecting the workers against anti-union discrimination (Article 1 of the Convention) and the workers' organisations against acts of interference by employers or their organisations (Article 2), accompanied by civil remedies and penal sanctions, and it requests it to supply information in its next report on collective bargaining in the agricultural sector (collective agreements, accords, statistics, etc.).