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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes the Government’s report. The Committee also notes that at the Government’s request a technical assistance mission visited Paraguay from 11 to 13 October 2000.

The Committee recalls that the divergencies between the provisions of the national legislation and the guarantees set forth in the Convention related to:

-  the requirement of too high a number of workers (300) to establish a branch trade union (section 292 of the Labour Code);

-  the imposition of excessive requirements to be able to hold office in the executive body of a trade union (sections 298(a) and 293(d) of the Labour Code);

-  the submission of collective disputes to compulsory arbitration (sections 284 to 320 of the Code of Labour Procedure);

-  the restriction on workers, even if they have more than one part-time employment contract, from being able to join more than one union, either at the enterprise, industry, occupation or trade, or institutional level (section 293(c) of the Labour Code);

-  the requirement that trade unions must comply with all requests for consultations or reports from the labour authorities (sections 290(f) and 304(c) of the Labour Code);

-  the requirement that, for a strike to be called, its sole purpose must be the direct and exclusive protection of the workers’ occupational interests (sections 358 and 376(a) of the Labour Code), and the obligation to ensure a minimum service in the event of a strike in public services which are essential to the community, without consulting the workers’ and employers’ organizations concerned (section 362 of the Labour Code).

The Committee notes with interest that the representatives of the Government and the technical assistance mission prepared a draft Bill to amend or repeal the legislative provisions criticized by the Committee and that the representatives of the most representative organizations of workers are in agreement with the proposed changes. In practical terms, the provisions of the draft Bill:

(1)  reduce from 300 to 50 the minimum number of workers to establish a branch trade union (section 292 of the Labour Code);

(2)  allow workers engaged in more than one occupation in various enterprises or sectors to join the trade unions corresponding to each of the categories of work that they perform and, at the same time, if they so wish, to join an enterprise union and a sectoral union (section 293(c) of the Labour Code);

(3)  to be a member of the executive body of a trade union, it is necessary to be an active member of the union, unless the statutes allow other categories of members, and the executive officers of the trade union are to be removed by decision of the general assembly, in accordance with the statutes of the trade union (sections 293(d) and 298(a) of the Labour Code);

(4)  trade unions will be obliged to comply with all requests for consultations or reports addressed to them by the competent labour authorities only in respect of their annual financial statements, as well as with requests for reports by the labour authorities in the event of denunciations by members concerning violations of the law or of the trade union’s statutes - the representatives of the central trade unions: Single Confederation of Workers (CUT), Central Paraguayan of Workers (CPT), General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and Trade Union Confederation of State Workers of Paraguay (CESITEP) expressed a preference for establishing the sole possibility of requesting reports in the event of denunciations by members - (section 290(f) and section 304(c) of the Labour Code);

(5)  trade unions are prohibited from being involved in matters relating purely to party politics and electoral movements which are unrelated to furthering and defending the interests of the workers, as well as in religious matters (section 305(a) of the Labour Code);

(6)  a strike is defined as the temporary collective and concerted suspension of work, at the initiative of the workers and their organizations, to defend the interests of the workers, as set out in section 283 of the Code (the examination, defence, furtherance and protection of occupational interests, as well as the social, economic, cultural and moral improvement of members) (section 358 of the Labour Code);

(7)  at the end of section 362 of the Labour Code, a provision is added that, in the absence of agreement, the modalities for the provision of minimum services in the event of a strike and the number of workers who are to ensure such services shall be determined by the Ministry of Labour with the participation of the workers’ and employers’ organizations from the sector, with administrative decisions which are deemed to be excessive being subject to judicial review; furthermore, where the State is a party to the dispute, minimum services shall be determined by the judicial authority; and

(8)  sections 284 to 320 of the Code of Labour Procedure respecting the submission of collective disputes to compulsory arbitration are repealed (the provisions in question are not currently applied on the grounds that article 97 of the national Constitution only provides for voluntary arbitration).

The Committee hopes that the draft text in question will be submitted to the legislative authority in the near future. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any developments in this respect, and on the outcome of the meeting which it was agreed to hold in a Protocol of Agreement signed during the technical assistance mission between the Government and the social partners, in which an undertaking was given to meet in order to examine the possible amendments to the legislation to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

Furthermore, the Committee is addressing a request directly to the Government in relation to the observations made by the CGT, the CUT and the CESITEP objecting to draft legislation respecting the public service which, in their view, is not compatible with the guarantees set out in the Convention. The Committee also examines in the direct request an issue relating to the electoral procedure which has to be followed by trade unions.

Finally, the Committee notes that the technical assistance mission also dealt with matters raised in relation to its examination of the application of Convention No. 98. The Committee proposes to address these issues during its regular examination of the application of Convention No. 98 next year.

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