Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Eritrea (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes the Government’s report.

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish and join organizations. In its previous comments, in order to gain a fuller understanding of the manner in which the right to organize is exercised in practice, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on and any available statistics regarding any workers’ organizations that have been established by those categories of workers who were excluded from the application of the Labour Proclamation, in particular as regards judges, prosecutors, registrars, civil service employees and employees in managerial positions. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the purpose of section 3 of the Labour Proclamation is to exclude these categories of workers from the regulation under the Labour Proclamation but that this function of the section should not be construed to mean that those workers do not have the right to establish and join their own associations. In general, in Eritrea, all employers and employees, except for the military and the police, have the right to organize under the special laws or the Transitional Civil Code. In this respect, the Government once again refers to sections 404 and 406 of the Transitional Civil Code, applicable in the absence of any special law guaranteeing workers the right to form and join organizations and which enable all categories of workers to form organizations with a view to defending the financial interests of their members or to representing a particular calling. The Committee further notes the Government’s indication that the drafting of the Civil Servants’ Code has reached its final stage and will be communicated to the ILO once adopted. In these circumstances, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information or statistics regarding any organization established by workers excluded from the application of the Labour Proclamation, and trusts that the Government will transmit a copy of the Civil Servants’ Code as soon as it has been adopted.

Article 3. Right to strike. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to amend section 116(3) of the Labour Proclamation pursuant to which, an agreement of more than half of the employees of an undertaking is necessary to hold a strike. In its reply, the Government indicates that the Ministry of Labour took note of and will examine the Committee’s previous comments to the effect that the ballot method, the quorum and the majority required should not be such that the exercise of the right to strike becomes very difficult, or even impossible. The Committee takes note of this information and requests the Government to keep it informed of the measures taken or envisaged to amend section 116(3) of the Labour Proclamation so as to bring it into conformity with the Convention.