Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Timor-Leste (Ratification: 2009)

Article 2. Right of workers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish and join organizations. Civil servants and domestic workers. In its previous comments, the Committee had requested the Government to provide a copy of the decree-law or other normative text regulating the right to organize of civil servants. The Committee notes with regret that the Government merely refers to Law No. 4/2022 establishing the legal regime for public professional associations (orders or chambers) without providing the relevant information. Recalling that section 115.2 of the Statute of the Civil Service (law n°08/2004) provides that the establishment and functioning of trade unions shall be regulated by a Government decree-law, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide a copy of the decree-law or other normative text regulating the right to organize of civil servants.

As regards the draft law on domestic workers, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the State secretariat for vocational training and employment plans to submit the draft law to the Council of Ministers for economic and social affairs. The Committee regrets the slowness of the legislative process. Itexpects that the law on domestic work will soon be adopted and requests the Government to provide a copy thereof.

Article 3. Right of organizations to organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. Strike Act (2012). The Committee recalls that for a number of years it has been requesting the Government to ensure that:

• workers’ organizations can exercise the right to strike in relation to the social and economic policies of the Government;
• no penal sanction may be imposed on workers for having carried out peaceful strikes and to that end, amend section 24 which establishes a penalty of imprisonment of up to 6 months for organizers of a strike that did not observe the provisions of the Act; and
• minimum services may only be imposed in relation to essential services in the strict sense of the term, in services in which strikes of a certain magnitude and duration could cause an acute national crisis, and in public services of fundamental importance; and that any disagreement on minimum services is resolved not by the government authorities, but by a joint or independent body which has the confidence of the parties and to that end, amend sections 18.2 and 18.5 of the Act.

Noting with regret that the Government provides no information, the Committee once again requests the Government, in consultation with the social partners, to take the necessary measures amend the Strike Act in line with the above and to report on the progress achieved. The Committee recalls that the Government can avail itself of the technical assistance of the Office in this regard.