Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) - Brazil (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee notes the Government’s report.

Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that in a previous direct request it referred to the need to recognize the right of state public servants to engage in collective bargaining over their terms and conditions of employment. The Committee notes the Government’s indications as follows: (1) the members of the staff of public enterprises and mixed economy companies are governed by the rules of private law, which allow them to organize, take strike action and conclude collective agreements or accords; (2) public servants enjoy the right to organize, but cannot exercise the right to collective bargaining for the determination of their conditions of employment, principally with regard to economic terms; (3) the provisions of Articles 37 and 61 of the National Constitution prevent public servants from exercising the right to collective bargaining; (4) there is in operation a Permanent National Negotiation Board composed of representatives of the Government and the trade unions. The objective and purpose of this Board is to establish methods for dealing with disputes and demands relating to industrial relations in the federal public administration and to reach negotiated solutions in the interests of both parties, until a system of permanent negotiation is established; and (5) it is envisaged that the outcomes of the current discussions in the National Labour Forum (FNT) will include regulations determining procedures for the exercise of collective bargaining and methods of dispute settlement for public federal, state and municipal officials. The draft regulations will be formulated within 120 working days of the transmission of the FNT’s proposal to the National Congress.

In these conditions, the Committee hopes that, as a result of the FNT’s proposals, the National Congress will adopt the necessary measures so that state public officials enjoy the right to the collective negotiation of their terms and conditions of employment, as provided for in Article 1 of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any progress in this respect.

Article 8. Declaration that the provisions of a collective agreement are null and void where they are contrary to the standards established by Government economic or wage policy (section 623 of the Consolidation of Labour Laws (CLT)). When it examined the application of Convention No. 98 in 2003, the Committee had noted the Government’s indication that the FNT intends to review the labour and trade union legislation and that it is hoped that, when the work of the Forum has been completed, all the current obstacles to full freedom of association and collective bargaining that exist in the legislation will have been overcome. The Committee hopes that the above section of the CLT will be repealed in the near future.