Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 400, October 2022

Case No 2994 (Tunisia) - Complaint date: 04-JUN-12 - Closed

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

1. 63. The Committee examined the present case, which relates to acts of interference by the authorities in the affairs of the Tunisian General Confederation of Labour (CGTT), its exclusion from all national tripartite consultations and anti-union acts by certain enterprises against its leaders, the last time at its meeting in June 2016 [see 378th Report, paras 758–774]. On that occasion, the Committee requested the Government to take all necessary measures to establish clear and pre-established criteria of trade union representation while prioritizing an inclusive social dialogue for the determination of these criteria by endeavouring to extend the scope of its consultation to all the Tunisian trade union and employers’ organizations concerned to enable it to take the various points of view into consideration.
2. 64. The Committee notes that, in its communications dated 20 August 2018, jointly signed with the Confederation of Tunisian Corporate Citizens (CONECT) and the Tunisian Farmers’ Union (SYNAGRI) on 4 April 2019 and 24 September 2021, the CGTT denounces its persistent exclusion from social dialogue and in particular from the National Council for Social Dialogue under the provisions of Government Decree No. 2018-676 of 7 August 2018 on the determination of the number of members of the National Council for Social Dialogue. According to the CGTT, article 2 of this Decree, issued without consultation with the social partners, expressly provides that the 35 worker members will be drawn from the most representative workers’ organization to the detriment of proportional representation. The complainant organization adds that this logic of exclusive representation is also applied to the representation of employer members in the agricultural (5 members) and non-agricultural (30 members) sectors. These provisions necessarily lead to limiting union and employer representation to three entities, excluding all other professional employers’ and workers’ organizations. The CGTT adds that the provisions of the Decree contradict the provisions of Law No. 2017-54 of 24 July 2017 establishing the National Council for Social Dialogue, article 8 of which upholds expressly the logic of trade union pluralism in the composition of the Council’s assembly, which is composed of “the most representative organizations of workers and representatives of the most representative organizations of employers in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors”.
3. 65. Moreover, the CGTT recalls that the judiciary confirmed in a decision of the Administrative Court of Appeal of Tunis dated 5 February 2019, confirming a judgment of the Administrative Court dated 26 June 2015, its right to benefit from the rights and advantages related to its status as a trade union organization, in particular those relating to the withholding of trade union dues, the availability of trade union leaders and the right to collective bargaining.
4. 66. The Committee notes the Government’s indication contained in a communication dated 21 December 2021 that the Minister of Social Affairs issued the Decree of 26 September 2018 establishing the criteria adopted to determine the most representative trade union organization at national level for the purpose of determining the composition of the National Council for Social Dialogue. The criteria are: (i) the number of members of the trade union until 31 December 2017; (ii) the holding of the trade union’s electoral congress; (iii) the number of the trade union’s sectoral structures and the nature of its activity; and (iv) the number of the trade union’s regional and local structures. According to these criteria, the most representative workers’ organization is the organization that has held its electoral congress and the one with the largest number of members and the largest number of sectoral, regional and local structures. The same applies to the employers’ representation.
5. 67. The Government states that, following the publication of the Order, the Ministry of Social Affairs sent correspondence to this effect to the professional organizations to provide the required information. However, replies were received only from the following organizations: the General Federation of Tunisian Workers; the Tunisian Workers’ Labour Union; and the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts. On this basis, the Minister of Social Affairs issued a decision on 6 November 2018 appointing the above-mentioned organizations as members of the National Council for Social Dialogue.
6. 68. With regard to representation on the National Council for Social Dialogue, the Committee observes that article 8 of Law No. 2017-54 of 24 July 2017 establishing the Council in question provides that the general assembly of the Council shall be composed of an equal number of representatives of the Government, representatives of the most representative organizations of workers and representatives of the most representative organizations of employers in the agricultural and non-agricultural sectors while Decree No. 2018-676 establishes clear representativity criteria for the purposes of determining participation in the Council. The Committee regrets however that the Government has not replied to the complainants’ allegations that the inclusive social dialogue for the determination of these criteria which the Committee requested when it last examined this case did not take place and requests the Government to be mindful of the views of other representative organizations when discussing matters that may concern them.
7. 69. Furthermore, recalling that the courts have long recognized the rights and advantages conferred on the CGTT by its status as a trade union organization, the Committee trusts that the Government will ensure full respect of these decisions, particularly as regards the granting of the referred facilities.
8. 70. 70. Finally, recalling that at its origin this case concerned the question of trade union representativeness for the purposes of collective bargaining at all levels and that the above-mentioned laws appear to only address the question of representativity in the National Social Dialogue Council, the Committee once again requests the Government to engage in inclusive consultations with all workers’ and employers’ organizations concerned to ensure that the determination of representative organizations at sectoral and enterprise level are also based on clear, pre-established and objective criteria. The Committee draws the attention of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations to the legislative aspects of this case. In these circumstances, the Committee considers this case closed and will not pursue its examination.