Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2000, published 89th ILC session (2001)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Honduras (Ratification: 1956)

The Committee notes the Government’s report.

The Committee recalls that for many years it has been commenting on the following provisions of the Labour Code:

- the exclusion from the scope of the Labour Code, and thus from the rights and guarantees of the Convention, of workers in certain agricultural or stock-raising enterprises (section 2(1));

- the prohibition of more than one trade union in a single enterprise, institution or establishment (section 472);

- the requirement of more than 30 workers to constitute a trade union (section 475);

- the requirement that trade union organizations must include more than 90 per cent Honduran membership (sections 475 and 504);

- the requirement that the officers of a trade union, federation or confederation must be Honduran (sections 510(a) and 541(a)), be engaged in the corresponding activity (sections 510(c) and 541(c)) and be able to read and write (sections 510(d) and 541(d));

- restrictions on the right to strike, namely:

§ requirement of a two-thirds majority of the votes of the total membership of the trade union organization in order to call a strike (sections 495 and 563);

§ the ban on strikes being called by federations and confederations (section 537);

§ the power of the Minister of Labour and Social Security to end disputes in the petroleum production, refining, transport and distribution services (section 555(2));

§ the need for government authorization or a six-month period of notice for any suspension or stoppage of work in public services that do not depend directly or indirectly on the State (section 558);

§ the submission to compulsory arbitration, without the possibility of calling a strike for as long as the arbitration award is in force (two years), for collective disputes in public services which are not essential in the strict sense of the term (sections 554(2) and (7), 820 and 826).

In this regard, the Committee regrets once again that the Government does not refer specifically in its report to the comments that it has been making for many years. The Committee once again expresses the strong hope that the Government will take measures without delay to amend the above legislative provisions so as to bring them into conformity with the requirements of the Convention and recalls that it may have recourse to the technical assistance of the Office for this purpose. The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on any measures adopted in this regard.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2001.]