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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Congo (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the Government’s reply to the comments from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) concerning the arrest of a number of trade union representatives on 27 October 2005. The Committee also notes the new comments from the ITUC dated 4 August 2011 concerning points already raised by the Committee.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to conduct their activities in freedom and formulate their programmes. In its previous comments the Committee requested the Government to amend the legislation on the minimum service organized by the employer to be maintained in the public service that is indispensable for safeguarding the general interest (section 248-15 of the Labour Code), in order to limit the minimum service to operations which are strictly necessary to meet the basic needs of the population, within the framework of a negotiated minimum service. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that the work of revising the Labour Code, which had been suspended in 2008, resumed in 2010 and the adoption of the revised Code is envisaged for the second quarter of 2012. The Committee notes the timetable for the execution of the work, included in the Government’s report, according to which a draft revised Labour Code was due to be produced in the first quarter of 2011, on the basis of which the ministries concerned, the social partners and the ILO were due to be consulted. The Committee also notes the Government’s undertaking to take account, in the context of this revision, of the principles which it recalled in its previous comments, namely that since the definition of a minimum service restricts one of the essential means of pressure available to workers to defend their economic and social interests, their organizations should be able, if they so wish, to participate in defining such a service, along with employers and the public authorities (see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 161). The Committee requests the Government to provide information in its next report on the progress of the work to revise the Labour Code and reminds the Government of the possibility of seeking technical assistance from the International Labour Office as part of this work.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.