Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Madagascar (Ratification: 1997)

Articles 2 and 5(1) of the Convention. Effective tripartite consultations required by the Convention. ILO technical assistance. In its 2010 observation the Committee invited the Government and the social partners to promote and strengthen tripartism and social dialogue on the issues relating to international labour standards covered by the Convention. In its reply of October 2012 the Government indicates that the criteria for representativeness of employers’ and workers’ organizations were established by Decree No. 211-490 of 6 September 2011 concerning trade union organizations and representativeness. The Government adds that the adoption of Decree No. 211-490 has been the subject of numerous discussion meetings within the National Labour Council (CNT) with a view to settling the problems linked to determination of the most representative employers’ and workers’ organizations. The Government further indicates that in the current period of crisis the CNT is endeavouring to discharge its mandate by focusing on subjects of direct interest to workers and employers. The Committee notes that the General Confederation of Workers’ Unions of Madagascar (CGSTM), in its observations sent in August 2012, considers that the CNT has not been operating satisfactorily and that the CNT does not attach enough importance to ILO activities and to social dialogue, and the CGSTM affirms that, in certain cases, the opinions of the CNT have been ignored by the Government. The Committee notes that the social partners, faced with what they perceived to be a dysfunctional situation, called for ILO assistance to be requested in November 2011 in order to undertake a reform of the CNT. CGSTM declares that it is encouraging the Government to promote the use of tripartite consultations in accordance with Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that the 2008 ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization recognizes Convention No. 144 as one of the instruments that is most significant from the viewpoint of governance. The Committee hopes that the ILO technical assistance called for by the social partners can be provided and that the Government will then be in a position to provide detailed information enabling the Committee to establish that, as required by the Convention, effective tripartite consultations on international labour standards have taken place in practice. It hopes that the Government will be in a position to provide up-to-date and detailed information on the manner in which representatives of employers and workers have been chosen for the purposes of the Convention (Article 3 of the Convention) and on the content and outcome of tripartite consultations held on each of the matters referred to in Article 5(1).

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2014.]