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

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Guyana (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and reply to the comments submitted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in 2003, and the comments submitted by the ICFTU on 10 August 2006.

1. The Committee notes from the Government’s reply to the comments submitted by the ICFTU in 2003 that: (1) the Trade Union Recognition Act contains protective provisions prohibiting and dissuasively sanctioning anti-union discrimination; and (2) the matter relating to the refusal of the Forestry Commission to recognize, for collective bargaining purposes, the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), has been dealt with by the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 2187.

2. The Committee notes further the ICFTU’s comment, in its 2006 communication, that, in December 2005, the Government set the level of the public sector pay rise without consulting the GPSU – in breach of the collective agreement with the union. The Committee requests the Government to reply to the ICFTU comment in its next report.

3. Previously the Committee had referred to the recognition of only those unions claiming 40 per cent support of the workers, as set out in the Trade Union Recognition Act. Noting that the Government provides no information respecting this matter, the Committee recalls the Government’s previous indication that consultations on this provision would be held with representative organizations of employers and workers. Further recalling that, if no union covers more than 40 per cent of the workers, collective bargaining rights should be granted to all the unions in the unit, at least on behalf of their members (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 241), the Committee hopes that significant progress respecting this issue would be made in the near future and requests the Government to keep it informed of the results of the consultative process.