Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Eswatini (Ratification: 1978)

The Committee takes note of the observations of the Trade Union Congress of Swaziland (TUCOSWA) received on 30 August 2020, concerning: (i) allegations of restrictions to the right to collective bargaining in public enterprises, both in law – section 10(1) of the Public Enterprise (control and monitoring) Act – and practice; and (ii) the refusal of a pulp and paper company to pay termination benefits to workers dismissed, despite a collective agreement. Recalling that employees of public enterprises should be able to negotiate collectively their wage conditions, the Committee requests the Government to send its comments with respect to the TUCOSWA’s observations.

The Committee further notes the observations of Education International received on 20 September 2019 on discriminatory measures affecting the President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), and the reply of the Government thereto. In this respect, the Committee also refers to its comments under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No.87), whereby it requests the Government to reply to allegations from TUCOSWA on anti-union measures against union leaders, including of the SNAT.

Article 4. Promotion of collective bargaining mechanisms. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to continue to provide information on steps taken to promote collective bargaining in all sectors, including measures taken to implement section 42 of the Industrial Relations Act (IRA) on the recognition as collective employee representatives, as well as information on the number of collective agreements signed and the number of workers covered. The Committee notes the indication that most employers grant recognition agreements to registered workers’ organisations without need to resort the matter to arbitration under the provisions of section 42 of the IRA. This is evidenced by the low number of case load at the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) wherein recognition disputes ought to be reported (41 applications or disputes for recognition filed between 2017 and 2019). Furthermore, the Committee notes that while it provides statistics on the number of collective agreements registered by the Industrial Court from 2017 to 2019 (22 in 2017, 26 in 2018 and 16 up to 31 August 2019), the Government informs of the low compliance with the provisions of section 55(2) of the IRA whereby signed collective agreements shall be submitted to the Industrial Court for registration with a copy to the Commissioner of Labour. The Government considers that this failure to comply results in a number of collective agreements not known to the office of the Commissioner of labour, and indicates its intention to sensitize the social partners about the importance of complying with the requirements under section 55(2) of the IRA through regular communications at the national radio. The Committee invites the Government to inform about any fluctuation in the number of registered collective agreements as a result of the sensitization campaign. It also invites the Government to provide information on any other measures taken to promote collective bargaining and to continue providing information on the number of collective agreements signed, the sectors and the number of workers covered.