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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Guyana (Ratification: 1967)

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities. The Committee had previously requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend the Public Utility Undertakings and Public Health Services (Arbitration) Act, as amended in 2009, so as to ensure that only disputes in essential services in the strict sense of the term (services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population) could be referred to compulsory arbitration. In this respect, the Committee had observed that services listed in the Schedule of the Act, such as dockage, wharfage, discharging, loading or unloading of vessels or related services, do not constitute essential services in the strict sense of the term, and recalled that while some telecommunication services may constitute essential services, the broad formulation contained in the Schedule could apply to other non-essential services and thus unduly restrict the legitimate exercise of the right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities. The Committee further requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 19 of the Act, which sanctions the participation in an illegal strike by fines and imprisonment. The Committee recalled in this respect that no penal sanctions should be imposed against workers for having carried out a peaceful strike. While observing the Government’s indication that article 147 of the Constitution of Guyana states that workers have the freedom to strike, the Committee notes with regret that in its report, the Government indicates that the above-mentioned issues have not yet been placed on the agenda of the National Tripartite Committee. The Committee reiterates its previous request andurges the Government to take all necessary measures to amend the aforementioned legislation in consultation with the social partners without further delay, so that it does not unduly restrict the right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities. The Committee requests the Government to indicate all progress made in this respect.