Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Yemen (Ratification: 1969)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation on the following matters:

1. The need to adopt specific provisions, accompanied by effective and sufficiently dissuasive sanctions, to guarantee the protection of workers against any act of anti-union discrimination by employers and the protection of workers' organizations against acts of interference by employers. The Government had referred to various provisions of the draft Trade Unions Act which would guarantee such protection, in conformity with Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee firmly hopes that the draft Trade Unions Act will be adopted shortly and requests the Government to send a copy thereof as soon as it is adopted. 2. The need to adopt appropriate measures to encourage and promote the full development and utilization of machinery for the voluntary negotiation of collective agreements. The Committee requests the Government to supply information concerning the extent of collective bargaining in practice, i.e. the number of collective agreements concluded, the sectors covered, the number of workers covered, etc. 3. With regard to the Committee's previous comments on the need to amend sections 68, 69 and 71 of the Labour Code of 1970 which governed the compulsory registration of collective agreements and the possibility of their cancellation in the event that they did not conform with the security and/or economic interests of the country, the Government indicates that Act No. 5 of 1970 was repealed by the new Labour Code, Act No. 5 of 1995, as amended by Act No. 25 of 1997. The Committee notes that section 34(2) of the new Labour Code provides for the compulsory registration of collective agreements, and that section 32(6) of the new Labour Code stipulates that a collective agreement shall be invalid if any of its terms is "likely to cause a breach of security or to damage the economic interests of the country ...". Since this provision makes a collective agreement subject to prior approval before it can enter into force, or allows the agreement to be cancelled on the grounds that it runs counter to the Government's security and/or economic interests, the Committee considers it to be contrary to Article 4 of the Convention and requests the Government to take the necessary measures to amend it so that refusal to register a collective agreement is possible only due to a procedural flaw or because it does not conform to the minimum standards laid down by labour legislation. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this regard.