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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Samoa (Ratification: 2008)

The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its first report that the tripartite partners have drafted a new Labour and Employment Relations Bill (2011) (“the draft Bill”) to address all issues related to the Convention. The Committee notes that the draft Bill is still in the process of being developed and has benefited from ILO technical assistance. The Committee expresses the firm hope that the legislative reform will take into account all comments made below and will soon be completed in full conformity with the Convention in consultation with the social partners. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made in its report and to supply the new Law as adopted.

Articles 1–11. While observing that the draft Bill contains provisions which are in general in conformity with the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to make sure that the draft Bill ensures that:

• -all workers and employers, including in the public service and in the agriculture sector, are able to exercise their right to freedom of association, with the sole exception of the armed forces and the police;
• -workers’ and employers’ organizations shall have the right to draw up their constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organize their administration and activities, and to formulate their programmes;
• -workers are granted the right to strike to defend their economic and social interests with the only possible exception of civil servants exercising authority in the name of the State, essential services in the strict sense of the term (that is, service the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population) or in case of acute national or local crisis;
• -workers’ and employers’ organizations are protected from any dissolution or suspension by the administrative authority.