Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

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

The Committee notes that it has not received the Government's report. The Committee notes the information supplied by a Government representative and the discussions held in the Conference Committee in 1995, as well as the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee on Freedom of Association (see the 300th Report, paragraphs 392-398, approved by the Governing Body at its 264th Session in November 1995).

The Committee recalls that, for many years, its comments have referred to:

- 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 executive board have to be of Bolivian nationality (section 138 of the Decree issued under the General Labour Act);

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

- the requirement (of three-quarters of the employees who are in service) to call a strike (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 ending a strike (section 113(c) of the Act);

- 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 of Experts, like the Committee on Freedom of Association, profoundly regrets the massive numbers of sentences of imprisonment and internal exile imposed upon trade unionists, as well as the various anti-trade union acts that have been committed in recent years against numerous trade union leaders (see the 300th Report, paragraph 398). In this respect the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to guarantee respect of basic human rights and the full exercise of trade union rights.

With regard to the numerous comments that it has been making for several years, the Committee regrets to note that, despite the fact that these comments were the subject of long discussions in the Conference Committee in 1993 and 1995, and that the Government representative had given assurances that the draft legislation currently being prepared with the technical assistance of the ILO would be adopted in the near future, no progress has yet been made in the application of the Convention.

The Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures as soon as possible to examine all of the matters raised in its comments with a view to modifying its legislation, with the assistance of the ILO if it so wishes, and bringing it into full conformity with the provisions of the Convention. The Committee hopes that it will soon be able to note concrete progress in this respect.

Furthermore, the Committee is addressing a request directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the 85th Session of the Conference and to report in detail in 1997.]