Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 343, November 2006

Case No 2377 (Argentina) - Complaint date: 01-JUL-04 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 16. The Committee last examined this case at its meeting in March 2006 [see 340th Report, paras. 263-273]. The complainants alleged violations of the right to collective bargaining and to strike of education workers in the public sector of the province of Buenos Aires. The Committee expressed the hope that the Government would enact shortly the Decree that was in the process of adoption with a view to implementing the provisions of article 24 of Act No. 25877, on collective labour disputes, which, in its final paragraph, stipulates that “the National Executive, in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security and after consultation with the employers’ and workers’ organizations, will enact this article within a period of 90 days, in accordance with the principles of the International Labour Organization”.
2. 17. In communications dated 28 March and 4 April 2006, the Government reported that on 10 March 2006, Decree No. 272/2006 was published, regulating article 24 of Act No. 25877 on collective labour disputes (the Government encloses a copy of the aforementioned Decree).
3. 18. The Committee notes that article 2 of Decree No. 272 provides that the committee established under article 24, paragraph 3, of Act No. 25877 will be named the Guarantees Commission and pursuant to article 2 of the Decree will be mandated, inter alia, to “… advise the implementing authority on fixing minimum services, in the event that the parties have not reached an agreement to this effect or that the agreements are insufficient, in order to reconcile the exercise of the right to strike with the other rights recognized by the National Constitution, in accordance with the procedure set out in the present document”. The Committee is of the opinion that the new system represents an improvement over the previous one, in that the Guarantees Commission advising the administrative authority includes representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations, as well as other independent members. Nevertheless, the final decision on the fixing of minimum services still rests with the administrative authority. Under these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the practical application of the new provision and specifically, to supply information on the number of cases in which the administrative authority has modified the terms of rulings on minimum services issued by the Guarantees Commission.