Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Kyrgyzstan (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government provides no observations on the comments submitted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in a communication dated 29 August 2008 referring to employers’ interference in trade union activities, violation of collective agreements and insufficient protection against violation of trade union rights (insufficiently dissuasive fines). The Committee also notes that the comments of the ITUC in a communication dated 26 August 2009 refer to similar matters. The Committee requests the Government to provide its observations thereon.

Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee had previously noted that sections 3, 5 and 10 of the Law on Collective Agreements provided that, in collective bargaining, workers are represented by trade unions and other workers’ representatives, including enterprise councils. The Committee had also noted that pursuant to sections 29 and 31 of the Labour Code of 2004, the interests of workers, including in collective bargaining, were represented by trade unions and other elected bodies and that other representatives could be elected where no trade union represented at least 50 per cent of the workforce. It had requested the Government to amend the abovementioned provisions so as to ensure clearly that it is only in the event where there is no trade union at the workplace that an authorization to bargain collectively can be conferred to other representative bodies. The Committee regrets that no information has been provided by the Government in this respect. It recalls that when a representative trade union exists and functions at the enterprise, allowing other workers’ representatives to bargain collectively could not only undermine the position of the trade union concerned, but also infringe upon its collective bargaining rights. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to amend the relevant provisions of the Law on Collective Agreements and the Labour Code (2004) as well as to indicate the measures taken or envisaged in this regard.