Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Nicaragua (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the Government's report.

The Committee notes with interest the draft text of the new Labour Code and notes that, taking into account the Committee's comments, it provides for a reduction in the minimum number of workers required to establish an enterprise trade union (25 workers at all levels); the elimination of affiliation to, membership of or being active in political parties or associations as a grounds for the dissolution of a trade union; and the elimination of the provision which permitted the authorities to submit a dispute to compulsory arbitration.

Nevertheless, the Committee notes that the above draft text does not change the limitation on the exercise of the right to strike which it criticized previously, particularly with regard to the possibility of restricting strikes in rural occupations when the produce may be damaged if it is not immediately available (section 239(a) of the draft text). Nor does the draft text guarantee through a specific provision, as the Committee has been requesting for many years, the right to associate of public servants, self-employed workers in the urban and rural sectors and persons working in family workshops. Furthermore, the Committee notes that although the number of workers in an enterprise who are needed to call a strike has been modified (60 per cent of the workers in an enterprise under the Labour Code, and a simple majority according to the draft text), this figure should be limited to a simple majority of voting members.

The Committee also reminds the Government that it has been requesting for many years an amendment to the obligation placed on trade union leaders to present to the labour authorities the registers and other documents of a trade union on application by any of the members of that union (section 36 of the Regulations on trade union associations).

In these conditions, the Committee therefore requests the Government to continue taking action to further harmonize its legislation with the Convention and it hopes that the new Labour Code will be adopted as soon as possible and that it will incorporate the comments of the Committee on matters which have not yet been taken into account in the draft text.

The Committee is also addressing a request directly to the Government.