Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee takes note of the Government's report.

For many years, the Committee has been making comments on the importance of clear recognition being given in the legislation to the right to organise and to collective bargaining of workers in public bodies and autonomous enterprises producing goods or supplying services for the public, and of recognising expressly the right of public servants to associate not only for cultural and social purposes (section 31 of Act No. 200) but also for the purposes of furthering and defending their occupational and economic interests. The Committee has also emphasised the need to repeal section 36 of Act No. 200, which prohibits public servants from adopting collective resolutions against the measures taken by the competent authorities.

The Committee wishes to refer in this connection to the conclusions of the Committee on Freedom of Association in its 259th and 275th Reports, in its examination of Case No. 1341 (Paraguay) in its November 1988 and November 1990 meetings, in which it requested the Government to amend Act No. 200 regarding the public service (sections 31 and 36) so as to include specific legal provisions on the right to organise of public employees and to introduce machinery for the settlement of collective disputes in the public service in which the persons concerned will have confidence. Furthermore, the Committee on Freedom of Association requested the Government to adopt specific provisions, by introducing adequate conciliation and arbitration procedures, to compensate for the fact that doctors and nurses have no right to strike.

The Committee also wishes to recall that it made comments on sections 353 (the requirement of three-quarters of the members to call a strike) and 360 (services in which strikes are prohibited, despite the fact that not all of these services affect the life, personal safety and health of the population, in particular transport, basic commodities, fuel for transport and banks) of the Labour Code, and sections 284 (submission of collective disputes to compulsory arbitration) and 291 (dismissal of the workers who have ceased work during the procedure) of the Code of Labour Procedure, as well as section 285 of the Labour Code (prohibition on trade unions from receiving subsidies or economic assistance from foreign or international organisations).

The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that the drafting committee for the new text of the Labour Code has taken account of the Committee's comments on the right to organise and to collective bargaining of workers in public bodies, and on the right of public servants to associate for the purposes of furthering and defending their occupational and economic interests. The Committee requests the Government to send it the text of the draft in question and to state whether its comments have also been taken into account on the right to strike of public servants and public employees who do not act in their capacity as agents of the public authority and who do not provide an essential service in the strict sense of the term, as well as on the prohibition on trade unions from receiving subsidies or economic assistance from foreign or international organisations.

The Committee also notes that, in reply to its request for information, the Government states that judicial appeal against decisions by the Ministry of Justice and Employment to dissolve a trade union (section 308 of the Labour Code) has a suspensive effect.

The Committee expresses the firm hope that in the very near future the law and practice will be modified in order to bring them into full conformity with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on the measures that have been adopted in this respect. The Committee recalls that the Office remains at the Government's disposal for any assistance that it may wish to request.

[The Government is asked to report in detail for the period ending 30 June 1991.]