Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Rural Workers' Organisations Convention, 1975 (No. 141) - Philippines (Ratification: 1979)

The Committee notes the Government’s report.

In its previous observation the Committee, noting the particular difficulties facing rural workers’ organizations in assembling their members scattered around the country in a great number of islands to elect their union leaders by direct ballot, had asked the Government to amend Rule II(3)(d) of the Implementing Rules of Book V of the Labor Code and section 241(c) and (p) of the Labor Code, which requires unions to: (1) organize members into locals and chapters, and (2) hold elections of local and national officers directly and by secret ballot, under penalty of dissolution or officer expulsion. The Government states in this respect that Rule II(3)(d) of the Implementing Rules has been amended by Department Order No. 40-03 of 2003. The Committee notes that Department Order No. 40-03 establishes guidelines for the conduct of the election of officers of labour unions and workers’ associations, and provides that these guidelines may be adopted in the absence of any agreement among the members, or any provision in the constitution and by-laws of a labour union or workers’ association. The Committee notes nevertheless that section 241(c) and (p) of the Labor Code, which also contain the above-noted restrictive election requirements, have not been amended.

The Committee takes note of the Government’s indications that the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) was considering the inclusion of a chapter on rural workers and the informal sector in the Labor Code, and that the Labor Code review process was still subject to ongoing consultations with the tripartite partners and other stakeholders. In these circumstances the Committee expresses the hope that, in the context of these anticipated legislative reforms, section 241(c) and (p) of the Labor Code would be amended so as to allow rural workers’ organizations the right to choose the organizational structure they deem appropriate, and requests the Government to inform it of the progress made in this regard.