Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154) - Mauritius (Ratification: 2011)

The Committee notes the Employment Relations (Amendment) Act 2013 as well as the comments provided by the Government in reply to the 2013 observations from the General Workers’ Federation (GWF).

Article 1 of the Convention. Public service. Recalling that the scope of this Convention with regard to collective bargaining in the public service is broader than the scope of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), since it applies to workers and employers in all branches of economic activity, including the public service as a whole, the Committee refers to its latest comment under Convention No. 98. The Committee notes the divergence between the Government’s report and the statement of the Worker member of Mauritius before the Conference Committee in 2016 as to the appropriateness of negotiations in the public service, and recalls that simple consultations in the public service would not suffice to give effect to the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which negotiations in the public service take place.

Article 5. Definition of labour dispute. The Committee notes that, according to the definition of the term “labour dispute” in section 2 of the Employment Relations Act as amended, a dispute that is reported more than three years after the act or omission that gave rise to the dispute, is not considered a “labour dispute”. The Committee requests the Government to indicate to what extent the above rule is applied to collective labour disputes.

Article 7. Consultations. The Committee notes the divergence of views of the GWF and the Government as to the extent and completeness of the consultations prior to the adoption of the Employment Relations (Amendment) Act 2013. The Committee trusts that, in the future, the Government will ensure that any measures taken by the public authorities to encourage and promote the development of collective bargaining are the subject of prior consultation and, whenever possible, agreement between public authorities and employers’ and workers’ organizations.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government concerning collective agreements registered in the private and public sectors, dispute resolution before the Commission for Conciliation and Mediation (CCM) and trade union recognition for the purposes of collective bargaining. The Committee invites the Government to continue providing such statistics.