Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) - Belize (Ratification: 1999)

Article 5 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that under section 25 of the Trade Unions and Employers’ Organizations (Registration, Recognition and Status) Act, the tripartite body entrusted with the certification of the representative trade unions has the authority, prior to deciding the issue of representativeness, to determine the suitability of the bargaining unit in respect of which an application for certification has been made, taking into account the community of interests among the employees in the bargaining unit, the nature, type and scope of their duties and any view expressed by the employer, the trade union or the employees. Section 25(3) provides that the tripartite body may, before granting any certification to a trade union, include additional employees to the bargaining unit, or exclude some employees therefrom in order to render the unit more appropriate. The Committee considers that section 25 gives the tripartite body excessive discretion in deciding how to define a bargaining unit, a question that should be left to the workers’ organizations and employers concerned.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that there has been no change in the legislation examined and that it will inform the Committee of any future change. The Committee recalls that where the employer must recognize the existing trade union under a system of compulsory recognition, it is important for the determination of the trade union in question to be based on objective and pre-established criteria so as to avoid an opportunity for partiality or abuse (General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 240) in particular, through the use of vague and abstract expressions like “suitability” or “community of interests”. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take all necessary measures as soon as possible in order to amend section 25 of the Trade Unions and Employers’ Organizations (Registration, Recognition and Status) Act in accordance with the above principles.

The Committee raises other points on the collective bargaining rights of those unions that are not supported by at least 51 per cent of the employees comprising the unit (section 27(2) of the Act) in its examination of the application of Convention No. 98.

Article 7. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that one collective agreement was signed in 2006 (in the citrus industry, covering 42 workers) and seven more in 2007 (in the sugar industry and the banking and services sectors, covering 779 workers).

Finally, with respect to the measures requested by the Committee to promote collective bargaining in those sectors where it does not exist (commerce, domestic work and transport), the Committee notes the Government’s indication that collective bargaining is promoted through labour education, especially through promotion of trade unionism and the trade union’s functions. The Committee requests the Government to communicate the results of these measures of promotion of collective bargaining in these sectors.