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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Cabo Verde (Ratification: 1999)

Article 3 of the Convention. Minimum service in the event of a strike. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted with interest, within the framework of the 2016 legislative reform, the establishment of an independent tripartite body to determine the minimum services to be provided during a strike. The Committee previously noted that there were differing opinions on the nature, composition and operation of the tripartite body. The Committee notes from the information provided by the Government that discussions on this subject have continued, but that agreement has not been reached, as some consider that such a body should operate on an ad hoc basis and others on a permanent basis. The Committee notes that the Committee on Freedom of Association, in its examination of Case No. 3276 (384th Report, March 2018), requested the Government to provide additional information on the tripartite committee established by the Labour Code, indicating whether any implementing legislation was envisaged. The Committee notes that, according to the information provided by the Government, the matter will be settled, not by means of an implementing text, but within the framework of a new legislative review process, which will be dependent on a prior impact assessment of the Labour Code, as requested by the social partners. Like the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 3276, the Committee hopes that the independent tripartite committee responsible for determining minimum services in the event of a strike will be able, in the near future, to discharge its functions fully, in order to allow a considered exchange of views on what minimum services should be in practice. Before the independent tripartite committee takes up its functions, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the manner in which minimum services are determined in the event of a strike in essential services.

Recourse to civil requisitioning. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted the Government’s indications that civil requisitioning must only be used in serious cases to avoid irreparable damage, and in no circumstances may it be used to impede the right to strike, and that it applies in cases of failure to comply with the minimum services as determined by agreement between the parties or by the tripartite committee. The Committee requests the Government to specify whether recourse to civil requisitioning is limited to ensuring the implementation of minimum services determined by the parties or by the tripartite committee, indicating the applicable legislative and regulatory provisions. It also requests the Government to provide detailed information on: (i) the manner in which civil requisitioning functions in practice, including in the absence of an agreement between the parties and in the absence of the functioning of the tripartite committee; and (ii) the frequency with which the public authorities have had recourse to civil requisitioning in recent years, with an indication of the requisition orders published, the services concerned and the percentage of workers requisitioned by service.

The Committee recalls that the Government may request ILO technical assistance in relation to all of the issues raised.