Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

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

The Committee notes the Government’s replies to various allegations of violations of the Convention in practice contained in the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Confederation of Workers of Argentina (CTA Autonomous) of 2014 and 2015. In relation to the allegations on restrictions to the right to strike in the teaching sector in the Chaco province, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the new regulations referred to on the appointment of substitute and temporary teachers (Decree No. 2087/15) include the possibility of replacing teachers who exercise their right to strike. Furthermore, the Committee notes that the CTA Autonomous denounces the adoption of regulations (Resolution No. 142 of 13 March 2016 in Buenos Aires province and Resolution No. 823 in Tierra del Fuego province) which allow for the replacement of strikers who work in education. The Committee requests the Government to send its comments in this respect. In this connection, the Committee wishes to recall that public education services cannot be considered essential services in the strict sense of the term (the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population) and that the replacement of strikers seriously undermines the right to strike and has repercussions on the free exercise of trade union rights.

The Committee notes that the 2016 observations of the social partners contain further allegations of violations of the Convention in practice, including reports of intimidation, repression, detentions and convictions in the education and other sectors, as well as allegations of the discretionary power of the Ministry of Labour in determining the minimum services in the context of a strike and of the adoption of a protocol to restrict the activities of picketers. The Committee trusts that the Government will provide comments on those observations, as requested by the Committee in its observation concerning this Convention.