Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Armenia (Ratification: 2005)

The Committee notes the observations from the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia (CTUA), transmitted by the Government on 1 September 2023. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this regard.

Article 5(1) of the Convention. Effective tripartite consultations. The Committee notes that a new three-year Republican Collective Agreement was signed between the Government, the Republican Union of Employers of Armenia (RUEA) and the CTUA on 5 October 2020. The Government indicates that, in line with this Agreement, tripartite consultations were held with regard to the preparation of reports under article 22 of the ILO Constitution on ratified Conventions and article 19 of the ILO Constitution on unratified Conventions and Recommendations. The Government indicates that its draft reports under articles 22 and 19 were submitted to the social partners. It adds that its previous draft reports under article 19 on unratified ILO instruments for 2020 and for 2022 were also presented to social partners for their comments. The Government further reports that tripartite consultations were held within the Republican Tripartite Commission (RTC) on several draft laws, including with regard to the Labour Code. The Government indicates that the Law on Amendments and Additions to the Labour Code was adopted by the National Assembly on 3 May 2023 following broad consultations initiated by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, involving the social partners as well as various governmental and non-governmental institutions. The Government highlights that, under the new Collective Agreement, all draft labour legislation or regulation concerning labour rights or labour relations, except for the drafts requiring urgent decisions, need to be submitted to the RTC. In its observations, the CTUA points out that not all ministries follow such procedures and that, in practice, legislation is at times adopted without prior consultation. Lastly, the CTUA indicates in its observations that given that the RTC can only operate when a republican collective agreement is in force, the RTC did not meet between the expiration of the previous Agreement in December 2019 and the adoption of the current Agreement in October 2020.

Taking due note of the above, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that, in accordance with Article 5(2) of the Convention, tripartite consultations on the matters mandated by the Convention must be undertaken at appropriate intervals fixed by agreement with the workers’ and employers’ representatives, but at least once a year, and that consultations under the Convention may not be made subject to the condition of the existence of an operating republican collective agreement. The Committee further observes that the Government’s report does not provide the specific information requested on the content and outcome of the tripartite consultations held on all of the matters concerning international labour standards covered by Article 5(1) of the Convention, in particular, on the outcomes of tripartite consultations held in the RTC since the adoption of the Republican Collective Agreement of 2020. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide in its next report full particulars on the consultations held within the Republican Tripartite Commission on the matters covered by Article 5(1) of the Convention as well as on the frequency of the consultations held within the RTC since its reinstatement in October 2020.