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

Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) - Argentina (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes the observations of the Industrial Confederation of Argentina (UIA), received on 30 August 2019. The Committee also notes the observations of the Argentine Federation of the Judiciary (FJA), received on 27 August 2019, as well as of the General Confederation of Labour of the Argentine Republic (CGT RA), received on 3 September 2019, and of the Confederation of Workers of Argentina (CTA Workers), received on 10 September 2019.

The Committee welcomes the creation of the Social Dialogue Committee and refers, in this respect, to its observation on the application of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).

Article 5 of the Convention. Promotion of collective bargaining in the country. The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government concerning the collective bargaining situation in the country in 2017 (in which a total of 1,004 collective agreements and accords were signed, covering 4,180,000 workers) and 2018 (in which a total of 1,653 agreements and accords were signed, covering 4,300,000 workers).

Collective bargaining of workers in the national judiciary. In its previous comments, the Committee urged the Government to take the necessary measures to guarantee the collective bargaining rights of workers in the national judiciary and the provinces. The Committee notes that, once again, the Government refers to the division of powers and recalls that the regulation of collective bargaining in the national judiciary falls within the exclusive competence of the Supreme Court and the legislative branch. The Government adds, in this respect, that two bills in that area had been submitted recently, which had lost parliamentary status without being addressed. Regarding the judiciaries of the different provinces, the Government indicates that progress has been made, reflected in intense bipartite negotiation activities, and indicates that collective bargaining is implemented in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, as well as in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Tucuman, Chaco, Rio Negro and Mendoza. The Committee also notes that the CGT RA states that the national judiciary continues to invoke its independence to evade the exercise of collective bargaining; and that the FJA reports that neither at the national level nor in 23 of the country’s 28 provinces is the right of collective bargaining of workers in the judicial system respected. The Committee also recalls that these inadequacies in the promotion of collective bargaining of workers in the national judiciary have been the subject of various cases before the Committee on Freedom of Association (for example, Cases Nos 3078 and 3220). The Committee trusts that the Social Dialogue Committee will carry out an analysis of the necessary measures, adapted to national conditions, including legislation, which must be adopted to ensure the right to collective bargaining of workers in the national judiciary and in all the provinces of Argentina. The Committee encourages the Government to consider the possibility of inviting representatives of the judicial and legislative powers in question to engage with the Social Dialogue Committee for the purposes of this discussion. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this respect.