Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

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

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report.

With regard to the comments made by the Confederation of Education Workers of the Argentine Republic (CTERA), in its previous direct request the Committee requested the Government to ensure that Decree No. 5863/94 of the Entre Ríos Province on the deferred payment of salaries in the civil service, should not be applied in such a way as to restrict the right to strike of staff working in education. In this regard, the Committee notes with interest that, according to the Government's indication, the Decree in question has been repealed.

The Committee also referred to Executive Decree No. 2184/90 which was criticized by the CTA for including in the list of essential services "primary, secondary, tertiary and university education" (section 1(e)). Similarly, the Committee observes that in Case No. 1679, the Committee on Freedom of Association examined the allegations regarding the classification of transport as an essential service (section 1(b)), the power of the Ministry of Labour to declare a strike illegal (section 10), and the classification by that Ministry of measures for providing minimum services in the event that the parties fail to agree (section 5).

The Committee notes the Government's information to the effect that the purpose of Decree No. 2184/90 is to limit the provision of essential services for the community, defined in section 1 of the Decree as "those the total or partial interruption of which would endanger the life, health, freedom or safety of part of the population or of particular persons".

The Committee recalls that, in the absence of agreement between the parties in the determining methods for providing minimum services (section 5) the final decision should better be determined by a bipartite or tripartite body, or by another independent body. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of these provisions and to transmit, in its future reports, a copy of any decision taken by the Minister of Labour and Social Security in this respect.