Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Syrian Arab Republic (Ratification: 1957)

The Committee notes the comments made by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) dated 24 August 2010 concerning the failure to implement collective bargaining rights, for union representatives can only participate with employers’ representatives and the supervising ministry in the establishment of minimum wages, or hours and conditions of employment.

Article 4 of the Convention. Collective bargaining in practice. In its previous observation, the Committee noted that for the second consecutive year, the Government indicated in its report that no collective agreement had been concluded in the last three years since none of the social partners had expressed the need for it. The Committee wished to draw the Government’s attention to the terms of Article 4 of the Convention, which states that measures appropriate to national conditions shall be taken, where necessary, to encourage and promote the full development and utilization of machinery for voluntary negotiation between employers or employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements. The Committee therefore urged the Government to indicate in its next report the measures to promote collective bargaining adopted by the national authorities in both the public and private sectors and reminded it of the possibility of requesting technical assistance from the Office in this respect.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that the Labour Code No. 17 of 2010 contains an entire chapter on collective bargaining (sections 178–202) and adds that collaboration is ongoing with the Chamber of Industry and the General Federation of Trade Unions to issue an order by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs to clarify the mechanism for collective bargaining, and will transmit it to the Office as soon as it is issued. The Committee welcomes the request by the Government for ILO’s technical assistance in order to clarify the mechanism for the promotion of collective bargaining so as to encourage its use by representatives of workers and employers. The Committee, while expressing its concern about the deficient application of the Convention in practice, trusts that the requested technical assistance will take place in the very near future and  requests the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken or contemplated by national authorities to promote collective bargaining, in both the public and private sectors.