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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Latvia (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government's report. It would be grateful to receive further information on the following points.

1. Article 2 of the Convention (Right of workers to establish organizations of their own choosing). The Committee noted that under section 3 of the Act on Trade Unions of 13 December 1990, a major condition for registration of trade unions is that they represent not less than one fourth of the workforce in an enterprise, institution, organization, profession or branch. Although stipulating a minimum membership requirement as a condition for registration is not in itself incompatible with Article 2 of the Convention, the Committee is of the view that the requirement laid down in the law is too high. The Committee duly notes the Government's indication in its latest report that a new Act on trade unions is being prepared and provides for lowering the minimum membership requirement for creating a workers' organization, bearing in mind the national economic situation. It requests the Government to send it a copy of the Bill in the near future.

2. Articles 3 and 10 (Right of workers' organizations to formulate their programmes and to further and defend the interests of workers without interference from the public authorities). With respect to the restrictive requirements of the Act on Strikes of April 1998, the Committee notes that section 11(1) provides that the trade union shall make the decision on calling a strike if at least three-quarters of the members of the trade union attend the general meeting and three-quarters of members present have voted in favour. Noting that the Government's report does not contain any information replying to this point, the Committee again requests the Government to inform it in its next report of the measures taken or envisaged in order to reduce the required quorum for a strike ballot to a reasonable level. For example, for calling a strike, only the majority of workers of the enterprise having taken part in the vote, excluding those on leave, sick or on mission, should be taken into account.

The Committee also requests the Government to indicate in its next report whether the recourse to arbitration provided for in section 16 of the collective labour agreement of 26 March 1991 can be initiated by only one of the parties.