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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Belize (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) received on 29 August 2025, which are of a general nature.

Article 3 of the Convention. Compulsory arbitration. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to amend the Settlement of Disputes in Essential Services Act, 1939 (SDESA), which empowers the authorities to refer a collective dispute to compulsory arbitration to prohibit a strike or to terminate a strike in the banking sector, civil aviation, port authority, postal services, social security scheme and the petroleum sector, i.e. services that are not essential in the strict sense of the term. The Committee notes with regret the Government’s indication that no amendments have been made to the SDESA, but that a comprehensive review of the Labour Act to ensure equitable and transparent protection of labour has been approved and will be conducted with the support of the ILO. The Committee requests the Government to clarify whether the review of the Labour Act will also have an impact on the long-standing request to amend the SDESA, and if not, to take the necessary steps, in consultation with the social partners, to amend the SDESA in order to ensure that compulsory arbitration or a prohibition on strikes is permitted only in services that are essential in the strict sense of the term – that is those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the revised Labour Act and the SDESA once adopted.