Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Latvia (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government in its report.

Article 1 of the Convention. Recalling that its previous comments addressed the necessity to provide adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination at the time of recruitment, the Committee notes the Government's statement that the protection against acts of anti-union discrimination at the time of recruitment is provided by the provisions of the Constitution (articles 30-31), the Labour Code (sections 1 and 15) and by those of the Law on Trade Unions of the Republic of Latvia, which prohibit discrimination upon recruitment on grounds of trade union membership; moreover, an employer, when recruiting a new employee, has no right to ask whether the latter is a member of a given trade union and the employee is entitled not to disclose his/her trade union membership. These various acts of discrimination entitle the member of a trade union to file the case before a court.

Article 4. The Committee notes that the Government's report does not provide any information on the nature of the arbitration process provided in section 16 of the Collective Labour Agreement Act and the manner according to which it could be initiated. In this regard, the Committee wishes to recall that it usually considers arbitration imposed by the authorities at the request of one party to be contrary to the principle of the voluntary negotiation of collective agreements established in the Convention and thus the autonomy of a bargaining partner. An exception might however be made in the case of the conclusion of a first collective agreement or when it is obvious, after protracted and fruitless negotiations, that the deadlock in bargaining will not be broken without direct initiative on the part of the authorities (see 1994 General Survey on Freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraphs 257-258). The Committee therefore requests once again the Government to specify how the arbitration process provided in section 16 of the Collective Labour Agreement Act can be initiated and whether such arbitration requires, for instance, the consent of both parties.

Article 6. Finally, concerning the comments made by the Federation of Free Trade Unions of Latvia (LBAS) in its communication of 31 August 1995, the Committee requests the Government to specify the extent to which the guarantees provided for in the Convention apply to the employees of the Department of Fire and Rescue Service, and whether they are considered as being part of the armed forces.