Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Gabon (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the Government's report.

With regard to the calling of strikes, the Committee notes that a minimum service has to be maintained in certain enterprises on the grounds of their social utility or their specific nature (section 349) or because they are responsible for the provision of a public service (section 353). The Committee recalls that the right to strike can be restricted, or even prohibited, only in respect of public servants exercising authority in the name of the State or in essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, or in the event of an acute national crisis. The Committee requests the Government to provide the text of any decree issued under section 349 of the Labour Code determining the list of enterprises in which a compulsory minimum service is required, as well as the text of section 22 of Act No. 18/92 respecting the minimum service to be established by the trade union or unions of the employees concerned in the public service.

The Committee also notes that any strike which is of a purely political nature (section 342(a)) or which is called during the course of collective bargaining (section 342(e)) is unlawful. The Committee wishes to recall in this respect that organizations responsible for defending workers' socio-economic and occupational interests should, in principle, be able to use strike action to support their position in the search for solutions to problems posed by major social and economic policy trends which have a direct impact on their members and on workers in general, in particular as regards employment, social protection and the standard of living (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 165).

Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide information in future reports on the conclusion of any collective agreement concerning the question of the deduction from wages of union dues, as well as any regulations or decrees adopted under section 380 of the Labour Code relating to the application of this Convention.