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

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

The Committee notes the Government's report and regrets that it does not provide further information on the questions raised in previous observations.

In its previous observation, the Committee noted that a draft text to amend Act No. 23551 had been prepared with the participation of an ILO advisory mission, providing for the repeal or amendment of the following provisions which were contrary to the Convention: section 30 (which required excessive conditions for granting trade union status to unions representing workshops, occupations or categories of workers); section 28 (which, in order to contest the trade union status of an association, required the petitioning association to have a "considerably higher" number of members); section 38 (which permitted only associations enjoying trade union status, and not associations which were merely registered, to be retained for the purposes of trade union quotas); and section 39 (which exempted only associations with legal personality, and not associations which were merely registered, from taxation).

In addition, the Committee noted that the above draft text had not provided for the modification of the following provisions (recommended by the Committee of Experts for several years now): the excessive conditions set out in law for an enterprise union to obtain trade union status (section 29 of the Act, which provides that "a trade union at the enterprise level may be granted trade union status only when another first-level trade union and/or a union does not already operate within the geographical area or the area of activity or category covered"), nor the provisions which grant privileges to associations which have been granted trade union status in comparison with other associations as regards the representation of collective interests other than through collective bargaining (section 31(a) of the Act, which provides that "associations which have been granted trade union status have the exclusive right to defend and represent the individual and collective interests of workers") and as regards trade union protection (sections 48 and 52 of the Act, which provide that only the representatives of associations which have been granted trade union status enjoy special protection).

While noting that, in its report, the Government states that the draft text to amend Act No. 23551 was passed by the Chamber of Senators in November 1992 and is currently before the Chamber of Deputies for study by the relevant committee, the Committee regrets that after an extremely long period of time the Act in question has not been adopted. The Committee expresses the strong hope that the amending text will be approved as soon as possible with the aim of avoiding any possibility of partiality or abuse in the determination and consequences of greater representativity of trade union organizations. The Committee requests the Government to inform it on this matter in its next report.

The Committee is also addressing a request directly to the Government on various matters raised by two trade union organizations.