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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Burkina Faso (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must, therefore, repeat its previous observation, which read as follows:

Article 3 of the Convention. Power to requisition. The Committee recalls that in its previous comments it referred to the need to amend sections 1 and 6 of Act No. 45-60/AN of 25 July 1960 regulating the right to strike of public servants and state employees. Under these provisions, public servants may be required to perform their duties in order to ensure the continuity of the administration and the safety of persons and property. The Committee recalled in this connection that it would be advisable to restrict the public authorities’ power to requisition workers to cases in which the right to strike may be limited or even prohibited, namely: (1) public servants exercising authority in the name of the State; (2) essential services, that is those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population; (3) in the event of an acute national crisis (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraphs 152, 158 and 159).

The Committee draws to the attention of the Government that its request related to sections 1 and 6 of Act No. 45-60/AN regulating the right to strike of public servants and state employees, whose conditions of work have been governed, until now, by a specific law (Act No. 013/98/AN of 28 April 1998 issuing the rules governing jobs and employees in the public service) and not by the Labour Code. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to amend or repeal sections 1 and 6 of Act No. 45-60/AN, if it is to remain in force after the new Labour Code has been issued. Moreover, the Committee requests the Government to continue to keep it informed of any decision to requisition workers that may have been taken in accordance with section 6. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the new Labour Code as soon as possible.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.

Finally, the Committee had requested the Government to modify section 159 of the Labour Code, which provides that members responsible for the management and administration of a trade union must be nationals of Burkina Faso or of a State with which establishment agreements have been concluded requiring reciprocity of trade union rights. The Committee notes with satisfaction that section 264 of the new Labour Code allows foreigners with five years of residence to become trade union officials.