Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Colombia (Ratification: 1976)

The Committee notes the recent application of sections 482 to 484 of the Substantive Labour Code respecting trade union contracts. The Committee notes that trade union contracts consist of contracts concluded by one or more unions of workers with one or more (employers) or employers’ organizations for the provision of services or the execution of a task by their members. The Committee notes that, under the terms of section 483, “the workers’ trade union which has concluded a trade union contract shall be responsible both for the direct obligations arising out of the contract and for compliance with those established for its members, except in cases of the simple suspension of the contract, as envisaged by the law or the agreement, and shall have the legal personality to exercise both the rights and actions which correspond to it directly, as well as those which correspond to each of its members. For these effects and purposes, each of the parties to the contract shall constitute a sufficient security; if such is not constituted, it shall be understood that the assets of each party to the contract shall cover the respective obligations.” The comments made by the trade union organizations show their opposition to the application of this contractual arrangement. The Committee notes that the High-Level Tripartite Visit had the opportunity to visit an enterprise in which a trade union contract was in operation, which gave rise to many questions and led it to consider that an in-depth investigation of the subject was necessary. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the application in practice of trade union contracts (their purposes and the related responsibilities) and on the number of such contracts concluded, and to provide copies of some of them as examples.