Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Rural Workers' Organisations Convention, 1975 (No. 141) - Philippines (Ratification: 1979)

With regard to its previous direct requests concerning the incompatibility of certain provisions of the Labor Code with Article 3 of the Convention, the Committee takes note of the information contained in the Government's report.

In particular, the Committee notes the promulgation of Act No. 6715 (the outcome of various Bills referred to in earlier reports), as well as the enactment of certain other legislation for agrarian reform and the elaboration of draft legislation aiming at a programme of comprehensive rural development. The Committee requests the Government to inform it of the adoption of the draft legislation and to send it the relevant texts once enacted.

As regards the compatibility of Act No. 6715 with the requirements of the Convention, see under Convention No. 87, as follows:

1. The Committee notes the amendments made to Book V of the Labor Code by Act No. 6715 and its Regulations. It notes in particular that section 3(f) of Rule II, Book V, provides that no person who is not an employee or worker of the company or establishment can be elected or appointed as an officer of a trade union.

The Committee wishes to draw the Government's attention to paragraph 158 of its 1983 General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining and in particular to the fact that, by virtue of the principle set out in Article 3 of the Convention, workers have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom without any intervention by the public authorities which would restrict the exercise of this right. In the Committee's opinion, provisions such as the one referred to above may prevent qualified persons, such as pensioners or full-time union officers, from carrying out union duties. Trade union organisations should be left to themselves to determine this matter through their own rules.

The Committee therefore requests the Government to envisage making its legislation more flexible by lifting the requirements that are set out regarding occupation for a reasonable proportion of trade union officers and to supply information on the measures that it intends to take to conform to these provisions of the Convention.