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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Angola (Ratification: 2001)

The Committee notes the observations of the National Union of Angolan Workers (UNTA), received on 30 August 2019, in relation to the application of the Convention and alleging excessive delays in trade union registration. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

The Committee takes note of the observations of the International Organization of Employers (IOE) received on 1 September 2016, which are of a general nature.

In its last comment, the Committee noted the adoption of the new General Labour Act No. 7/15 of 15 June 2015. The Government indicates that section 7 of this law recognizes the right to freedom of association, the right to organize and to freedom of assembly, the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike, respectively. The Government also reiterates the articles of the Constitution adopted in 2010, which also recognize said rights.

Legislative reforms. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted the Government’s indication that new bills revising the Trade Unions Act No. 21 C/92 and the Strikes Act No. 23/91 had been drafted taking into account a number of amendments suggested by the Committee. Noting that the Government does not provide any new information concerning the state of progress of the abovementioned bills, the Committee recalls its previous comments on the need to:

• – Amend section 3 of the Trade Unions Act, which provides that first-level organizations must include in their membership at least 30 per cent of workers in the occupational branches and sectors of economic activity at the provincial level, by lowering the percentage of workers needed to establish a first-level organization. The Committee had noted that according to the Government the new bill repeals section 3;
• – amend section 2(2) of the Strikes Act, which provides that any reduction or alteration of hours and methods of work that has been agreed upon collectively and does not imply refusal to work is not treated as a strike and may therefore be subject to disciplinary action, so as to ensure that the aforementioned forms of collective action are not subject to disciplinary measures;
• – amend section 6 of the Strikes Act, which bans strike action by civilian workers in military institutions, so as to ensure that these workers may resort to strike action without incurring any punishment;
• – amend section 10 of the Strikes Act, which provides that a strike may be declared only if two-thirds of the workers present in the assembly so agree, and that the employer is entitled to demand the presence of a representative of the public authority at any assembly for the calling of a strike, in order to check that it is properly constituted and its decisions properly adopted;
• – provide clarification of the wording of section 20(1) of the Strikes Act, which provides that workers and trade unions in public utilities must, in the event of a strike, provide “through pickets”, the services required to meet the basic needs of the population, and to indicate the exact meaning of the term “pickets” and the manner in which the necessary minimum services are determined in such an event. The Committee had requested the Government to take advantage of the legislative reform to draft section 20(1) more precisely and to ensure that minimum services were determined not by the public authorities alone but with the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned and that any disagreement should be settled by an independent body;
• – amend section 20(3) of the Strikes Act, which allows workers to be requisitioned in the event of a strike in: (a) the postal services; (b) fuel supply; (c) public transport; and (d) the loading and unloading of foodstuffs, since these are not essential services in the strict sense of the term (that is, services the interruption of which would endanger the lives, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population). The Committee recalls that, although employers may demand compliance with minimum services established with the participation of workers’ organizations, requisitioning by a decision of the administrative authorities should be possible only in the following cases: (i) in the public service only for public servants exercising authority on behalf of the State; (ii) in essential services in the strict sense of the term, that is, services the interruption of which would endanger the lives, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population; and (iii) in an acute national or local crisis. Negotiated minimum services might be demanded in cases (a), (b), (c) and (d);
• – amend section 27 of the Strikes Act, which provides for penalties of imprisonment and fines for the organizers of a strike that has been forbidden, declared unlawful or suspended;
• – indicate whether sympathy strikes or protest actions for economic and social policy considerations not contemplated in section 3 of the Strikes Act can be held without incurring penalties. The Committee had requested the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the new legislation did not exclude the resort to sympathy strikes or actions to protest against economic and social policy;
• – provide information on section 8(1) of the Strikes Act, under which the right to strike of workers in ports, airports, railways, air and maritime transport, and any other enterprise that provides essential goods or services for the army shall be exercised in a manner that does not affect the supplies needed for national defence. The Government had indicated in its previous report that the bill revising the Strikes Act repealed this section and the Committee had therefore requested the Government to ensure that section 8(2) (providing for compulsory arbitration and for a mediation procedure in the case provided for under section 8(1)) was also repealed;
• – explain the meaning of the phrase “in situations threatening public order or in the event of public disaster” in section 8(4) providing for the suspension of the right to strike by a decision of the Council of Ministers in these cases, and to indicate in what circumstances and how many times this provision had been applied. The Government had pointed out that, as yet, a disaster had never coincided with a strike and that the legislative authority would take account of the fact that this section was outdated (the Government had also indicated in its previous report that the new bill would provide that suspension would be at the decision of the judicial authority);
• – provide clarification regarding section 3(6) of the Trade Unions Act concerning the right to establish unions at enterprise level. The Committee had asked the Government to confirm whether this provision enabled workers to organize at enterprise level.

Having previously noted that the Government requested technical assistance from the Office, the Committee hopes that this assistance can be made available in the near future, in particular in the framework of the process of revising the laws related to the application of the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress achieved in this respect.