Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes the Government's report, the information supplied by a Government representative and the discussion that took place in the Conference Committee in 1993. The Committee recalls that for many years its comments have been referring to the following points:

-- the denial of the right to unionize to public servants (section 104 of the General Labour Act of 1939);

-- the impossibility of setting up more than one union in an enterprise (section 103 of the above Act);

-- the wide powers of supervision of the labour inspectorate over the activities of trade unions (section 101 of the Act);

-- the prohibition from holding trade union office placed upon persons who do not normally work in the enterprises and are not included in wage and salary lists (section 6(c) of the Legislative Decree of 1951);

-- the termination of the mandate of trade union leaders when they retire from their job (section 7 of the above Legislative Decree);

-- the requirement that members of the governing board have to be of Bolivian nationality (section 138 of the regulatory decree issued under the General Labour Act);

-- the possibility of dissolving trade unions by administrative authority (section 129 of the Decree issued under the Act);

-- the excessive number required to call a strike (three-quarters of the employees who are in service) (section 114 of the Act and section 159 of the Decree issued thereunder);

-- the prohibition of strikes in all public services (section 118 of the Act), including banks and public markets (section 1(c) and (d) of Supreme Decree No. 1958 of 1950);

-- the recourse to compulsory arbitration as a means of putting an end to a strike (section 113(c) of the Act); and

-- the prohibition of general and solidarity strikes under penalty of six months' detention and six months' internal exile, with a doubling of these sentences in the event of a repetition of the offence (sections 1 and 2 of Legislative Decree No. 02565 of 1951).

The Committee takes due note of the statements by a Government representative during the Conference Committee in 1993 to the effect that the first three matters raised by the Committee of Experts were taken into account in the preliminary draft text of the new General Labour Act and that the other provisions referred to in the Committee's remaining comments have fallen into abeyance and are not applied in practice. By way of illustration, in recent years there is no known case of a trade union which has been dissolved by administrative authority. In practice workers, including employees in the public sector, can call a strike without needing to comply with the requirements and arbitration is no longer compulsory. Over the past ten years, many strikes have been held in the various sectors of the economy, including general and solidarity strikes. The Government is making every endeavour to ensure that the preliminary draft text of the new Act can be submitted to Parliament in the next session, after consultation with the social partners.

The Committee expresses the firm hope that all its comments have been taken into account in the drafting of the preliminary draft text of the new General Labour Act and once again hopes that the adoption of the new Act, which has been announced on so many occasions, will take place in the near future.

The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next report on any positive development in this respect and trusts that it will finally be able to note that the new legislation has been brought into conformity with the principles and provisions of the Convention.

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