Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 11) - Mauritius (Ratification: 1969)

The Committee notes the Government’s report as well as the adoption of the Employment Relations Act (ERA) 2008.

The Committee notes that, under section 2 of the ERA 2008, the definition of the term “worker” refers to work under a contract of employment or apprenticeship with an employer by way of casual work, manual labour, clerical work or otherwise and however remunerated. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the legal provisions that grant trade union rights to self-employed workers in the agricultural sector and in particular to agricultural workers working on medium-sized and smallholder farms.

The Committee observes from the Government’s report that between 2006 and 2010, while the number of trade unions catering for agricultural workers remained the same, workers belonging to these trade unions fell from 9,929 to 4,519. The Committee invites the Government to provide available information concerning this significant decrease.