Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151) - Chad (Ratification: 1998)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report does not contain the information requested, nor does it report on the measures taken to give effect to the recommendations that it has been making for many years on the implementation of several essential provisions of the Convention. The Committee is therefore bound to reiterate these recommendations and urges the Government to take all the necessary measures on each of the following points:

Article 1 of the Convention. Scope of application. Noting that section 3 of the general public service regulations excludes from their scope of application local government officials, employees in public establishments and auxiliary personnel employed by the administration who are governed by a specific text, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the legal texts in force which recognize for all these categories of public employees, the rights and guarantees envisaged by the Convention. In so far as legal texts governing the specific conditions of service of these public employees grant them these rights and guarantees, the Committee requests the Government to provide copies thereof.

Article 4. Protection against acts of anti-union discrimination. The Committee notes that, while section 10 of the General Public Service Act provides that there may be no discrimination between employees on grounds of their trade union opinions, no provision in the Act, or in other texts applicable to public employees, establishes protection against discrimination in the exercise of trade union activities. The Committee urges the Government to take measures to include in the legislation provisions that explicitly provide adequate protection against discrimination of public employees on the grounds of their trade union membership or activities.

Article 5. Protection against acts of interference. Noting that neither the General Public Service Act, nor other texts applicable to public employees, contain provisions prohibiting acts of interference by the public authorities in the internal affairs of unions, and recalling the need, in accordance with the Convention, to fully guarantee adequate protection for organizations against any acts of interference by public authorities in their establishment, operation and administration, the Committee urges the Government to take measures to include such protective provisions in the legislation.

Article 6. Facilities to be afforded to workers’ representatives. Noting the Government’s reply on the absence in the General Public Service Act of provisions explicitly providing for such facilities, the Committee once again urges the Government to take measures, as required by the Convention, with a view to ensuring, through the adoption of legislative provisions or other means, that facilities are afforded to the representatives of recognized public employees’ organizations in order to allow them to perform their functions promptly and efficiently both during working hours and at other times.

Article 7. Procedures for determining terms and conditions of employment. The Committee urges the Government to provide a copy of the Decree determining the composition, operation and appointment of the members of the Public Service Advisory Committee, and to indicate any consultations or agreement concluded with trade union organizations in the public service over recent years.

Article 8. Settlement of disputes. Noting the Government’s reply concerning the absence of provisions in this respect, the Committee once again urges the Government to take measures to establish a procedure offering guarantees of independence and impartiality (such as mediation, conciliation or arbitration) with a view to settling disputes arising out of the determination of the terms and conditions of employment of public employees.

The Committee trusts that the Government will take all the necessary measures without delay and in consultation with the representative organizations concerned to give effect to its comments and accordingly to give full effect to the provisions of the Convention. The Committee urges the Government to report the progress achieved in this respect.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2016.]