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

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Malawi (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes that the Government has not sent its comments on the observations made by the Teachers Union of Malawi and the Private Schools Employees Union of Malawi received on 3 September 2021, containing allegations of interference in trade union activities. The Committee requests once again the Government to provide its comments thereon.

The Committee notes the observations of the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU), received on 2 September 2024 concerning matters examined below, and also notes the Government’s reply thereon.

Article 4 of the Convention. Measures to encourage and promote collective bargaining. In its previous comments, the Committee had requested the Government to: (i) take the necessary measures, to ensure that the threshold established by legislation to become a bargaining agent effectively guarantees the promotion of collective bargaining; (ii) indicate the measures taken or envisaged to encourage and promote collective bargaining in all sectors covered by the Convention; and (iii) to continue providing information on the number of collective agreements concluded and in force, the sectors concerned and the number of workers covered by these agreements. The Committee welcomes the Government’s information about the existence of sixteen collective agreements recorded by the MCTU over the past two years, covering approximately 200 workers in private schools, 37,500 in the tea sector (25,800 males and 11,700 females), 15,000 in the sugar sector, 1000 in public universities, 70,000 teachers in public service and 262,000 (167,230 males and 97,230 females) in the civil service. The Committee notes that the MCTU alleges that while the number of collective bargaining agreements did increase in the last two years, some employers refuse to negotiate where the threshold to become a bargaining agent is not attained and, in some cases, use tactics aimed at frustrating the attainment of the referred threshold. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that: (i) the most representative workers and employers’ organizations have never expressed concerns in that regard; and (ii) the threshold established by legislation represents the minimum required for collective bargaining and aims to encourage trade unions to recruit more members for their own strength. While taking note of these indications,the Committee requests the Government, once again,to take the necessary measures, in consultation with the most representative social partners, to ensure that the threshold established by legislation to become a bargaining agent effectively guarantees the promotion of collective bargaining within the meaning of the Convention, taking into consideration that, when the threshold is not reached, the existing unions should be given the possibility, jointly or separately, to bargain collectively, at least on behalf of their own members. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to encourage and promote collective bargaining in all sectors covered by the Convention, and to continue providing information on the number of collective agreements concluded and in force, the sectors concerned, and the number of workers covered by these agreements. Recalling that collective bargaining should be promoted at all levels, the Committee further requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the sections of the Labour Relations Act concerning sectoral collective agreement.