Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - Tunisia (Ratification: 1959)

Article 1(d) of the Convention. The Committee has been pointing out for many years that under the Labour Code participation in a strike is illegal and can be punished by imprisonment involving, by virtue of section 13 of the Labour Code, compulsory labour, where it has not been approved by the central workers' organisation (section 376bis (2); 387 and 388), and where the Government imposes arbitration, considering that a strike might endanger the national interest (sections 384 to 388); similarly, workers may be requisitioned under penalty of imprisonment when a strike is considered to endanger the vital interest of the nation (sections 389 and 390).

The Committee pointed out that recourse to compulsory arbitration and requisitioning, enforced by penalties involving compulsory labour should be limited to essential services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety and health of the whole or part of the population, and that penalties involving compulsory labour should not be imposed for participation in a strike merely because it has or has not been approved by the central workers' organisation.

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its report to the effect that, in the context of the review of the Labour Code, a tripartite cooperation committee was set up in January 1990, inter alia, to examine the Bill to amend the provisions on the settlement of collective labour disputes.

The Committee trusts that the provisions in question will be re-examined in the light of the Convention and that the Government will provide full information on progress made in bringing the legislation into conformity with the Convention on this point.