Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Saint Kitts and Nevis (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that while the previous draft Labour Code has been withdrawn, new measures have been adopted to prepare a new Labour Code through tripartite consultations and with technical assistance from the Office.

Article 3 of the Convention. Rights of workers’ and employers’ organizations to draw up their constitutions and rules and to organize their administration. In its previous comments, the Committee had invited the Government to provide information on the measures taken to amend section 33(2) of the Trade Unions Act, a provision allowing the Registrar to demand detailed financial information from unions. The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that, in collaboration with the ILO, it held a tripartite consultation, in which the social partners agreed on the need to revise and amend the provisions of the Trade Union Act, taking into consideration the Committee’s observations, and that a formal request to amend section 33(2) was submitted to the competent authority and is pending for approval. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on further developments concerning the amendment of section 33(2) of the Trade Unions Act, and to transmit a copy of the amendment when it is enacted.

Articles 3 and 4. Interference in the financial administration of a trade union. No dissolution or suspension of organizations by administrative authority. The Committee observes that certain provisions of the first draft of the new Labour Code, attached to the Government’s report, confer excessive powers to the Registrar, in particular as to the powers to demand detailed financial information from unions (section N33(2)), and to withdraw or cancel registration in certain circumstances (sections N14(e) and N15). In this regard, the Committee recalls that: (i) while legislative requirements that the constitutions of organizations should contain provisions relating to their internal financial administration or which provide for external supervision of financial reports are acceptable, with a view to ensuring the conditions for honest and effective administration, supervision should be limited to the obligation of submitting annual financial reports or if there are serious grounds for believing that the activities of an organization are contrary to its rules or law (which itself should not infringe the principles of freedom of association); and (ii) the dissolution and suspension of trade union organizations constitute extreme forms of interference by the authorities in the activities of organizations and should therefore be accompanied by all the necessary guarantees, which can only be ensured through a normal judicial procedure which should also have the effect of a stay of execution (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraphs 109 and 162). In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to take all the necessary measures to review the draft of the new Labour Code so as to restrict the Registrar’s powers, ensuring conformity with the Convention.

The Committee trusts that the Government will take full advantage of the technical assistance from the Office and will be in a position to report progress in this regard.