Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

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

Referring to the follow-up to the recommendations of the Committee on Freedom of Association and the Governing Body concerning the violations of the rights of the members of the National Council of Employers of Togo (CNP-Togo) to freely choose their representatives and carry out their activities without interference, the Committee notes with interest the outcome of this dispute (see Case No. 3105, 382nd Report, June 2017).

However, the Committee notes with regret that the Government has not provided responses to the comments that it has been making for several years and that the Government merely reiterates that it will take account of the Committee’s comments in the ongoing process of legislative reform. The Committee urges the Government to immediately take the necessary steps to ensure the full conformity of the national legislation and regulations with the Convention, on the following points:

• -Article 2 of the Convention. Trade union rights of minors. Section 12 of the Labour Code needs to be amended so that minors who have reached the statutory minimum age for admission to employment (15 years of age under section 150 of the Labour Code) can exercise their trade union rights without the need for authorization from their parents or guardians.
• -Article 3. Right of organizations to organize their activities and formulate their programmes. Measures are needed to: (i) adopt the decrees referred to in sections 273 and 274 of the Labour Code on the determination of essential services in the event of a strike; and (ii) amend section 275 of the Labour Code, to ensure that the parties to a collective dispute are free to choose the procedure for the settlement of the dispute.
• -Application of the Convention in the export processing zone. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to: (i) specify the authorities empowered to supervise the application of the rights guaranteed by the Convention in the export processing zone; (ii) indicate the bodies authorized to settle collective labour disputes arising in the export processing zone; and (iii) provide information on all cases since October 2012 of labour disputes in the export processing zone that have been brought before labour courts and their outcomes, as well as all instances since October 2012 of conciliation for individual or collective labour disputes in the export processing zone.

The Committee urges the Government to provide information on any new developments in relation to the issues raised.