Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135) - Sri Lanka (Ratification: 1976)

Article 5 of the Convention. Requirement not to undermine position of trade unions. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to ensure that, where both trade unions and elected representatives (employees’ councils) exist in an undertakingeither within or outside the EPZs, the existence of the latter is not used to undermine the position of the trade unions concerned in collective bargaining. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that: (i) enterprises under the purview of the Board of Investment follow the principles laid down in the Labour Standards and Employment Relations Manual, which clearly indicate that employees’ councils can participate in collective bargaining only in the absence of trade unions (Clause 15.0); and (ii) section 5 of the Industrial Disputes Act allows trade unions and not employees’ councils the right to establish collective agreements with the employer. The Committee further notes the information provided by the Government that employees’ councils are not legally empowered to replace trade unions in collective bargaining regardless of the percentage of the workforce that they represent.

The Committee takes due note of these elements as well as of those provided by the Government in the context of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention,1949 (Convention 98), concerning specifically the cohabitation of employees’ councils and trade unions within EPZs. While referring to its comments under Convention 98, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the practical implementation of the above provisions, indicating in particular: (i) the number of employees councils established in the country in relation to the number of enterprises with a trade union presence; and (ii) the number of collective agreements concluded in entities having both employees’ councils and trade unions.