Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 415, June 2026

Case No 3492 (Colombia) - Complaint date: 05-FEB-25 - Follow-up

Allegations: The complainant alleges that the contracts of contractors who are members of the trade union were not renewed, that the National Land Agency declined to bargain collectively and that union dues have not been collected from its members

1. 109. The complaint is contained in a communication dated 5 February 2025 submitted by the Association of Independent Workers (ATI).
2. 110. The Government of Colombia sent its observations on the allegations in a communication dated 12 September 2025.
3. 111. Colombia has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), and the Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154).

A. The complainant’s allegations

1. 112. In its communication dated 5 February 2025, the ATI alleges that:
   • (i) the contractors affiliated with the ATI who in December 2023 participated with the National Land Agency in a working group set up by the Ministry of Labour to address reports of workplace harassment and violations of the right to disconnect from work did not have their contracts renewed in 2024, despite their good performance and without the National Land Agency providing objective reasons for the decision;
   • (ii) the list of demands submitted by the ATI in February 2024 did not lead to the establishment of the relevant negotiating table in accordance with the law and it was only after an application for legal protection (tutela) had been filed with the judicial authorities that the National Land Agency responded to the list, indicating – on the basis of reports of the Ministry of Labour supported by Constitutional Court Judgment T376 of 2020 – that the fact that it did not initiate bargaining was lawful because, although contractors may form trade union associations, they are not entitled to negotiate collective agreements or accords or to present lists of demands due to the fact that they are independent workers, but they may submit requests seeking an improvement of their general terms and conditions of engagement; the complainant adds that this reasoning disregards the fact that its list of demands does not seek the conclusion of a collective agreement or accord under the Labour Code but rather a collective agreement under Decree No. 243 of 2024 governing procedures for negotiation and conflict resolution with organizations of public employees and therefore the criteria established in the aforementioned judgment of the Constitutional Court are not applicable;
   • (iii) in June 2024, the Ministry of Labour convened a dialogue forum to handle the list of demands and not a negotiating table in accordance with Decree No. 243 of 2024, and as part of this dialogue process, in meetings held on 7, 12 and 24 June 2024 the parties addressed non-retaliation against members who report cases of anti-union harassment and who participate in trade union forums such as the dialogue forum, the continuation of contracts where the conditions that gave rise to the contract persist and the contractor’s performance is good, the assessment of the situation of members to determine whether there are objective conditions to continue their contract, a review of cases of members who are owed fees, and a review of the cases of 20 members concerning the application of objective criteria for not continuing their contractual relationship; the complainant adds that, despite reaching agreements on these points, the National Land Agency did not continue the contracts of 9 of the 11 contractors of whose membership it had been officially informed, without any basis on objective criteria;
   • (iv) in April 2024, it submitted an application for legal protection to the judicial authorities, informing them of the non-renewal of the contracts of the affiliated contractors and seeking the deduction of union dues and the establishment of a negotiating table, but the application was rejected at all instances, as were the requests for review submitted to the Constitutional Court and the Office of the Ombudsperson; it reports further that, also in April 2024, it submitted a complaint to the Office of the Deputy Minister of Labour concerning the right to bargain collectively and seeking preferential power, which was denied;
   • (v) the National Land Agency rejected a request to renew the contracts of two affiliated contractors in vulnerable situations (Eduar Yohanu Carreño Castro and Katiuska Paola Franco Montes) and the judicial authorities dismissed an application for legal protection seeking the renewal of one of those workers (Eduar Yohanu Carreño Castro), whose mental health had been affected by a situation of workplace harassment;
   • (vi) the National Land Agency did not deduct union dues despite having been informed of the contractors who are members, which disregards their wish to be members and undermines the administration of the trade union.

B. The Government’s reply

1. 113. By a communication dated 12 September 2025, the Government submits its observations indicating that:
   • (i) on the basis of a report of the Ministry of Labour and the provisions of Constitutional Court Judgment T376 of 2020, which indicate that State contractors may enjoy the right to organize but may not negotiate collective agreements or accords or submit lists of demands given that they do not provide services on a subordinate basis but that they may submit requests seeking to improve the general terms and conditions under which they provide their services, the National Land Agency advised that it would assess the applications submitted by the ATI to verify that they did not constitute a list of demands and did seek an improvement in the contractors’ general terms and conditions; furthermore, it indicates that contractors of the Administration are not governed by Decree 243 of 2020, which governs collective bargaining of organizations of public employees, and that the provision of services by contractors comes under the rules governing public contracting;
   • (ii) in May 2024, a working group was organized by the National Land Agency to assess the requests submitted by the ATI related to the improvement of contractors’ general terms and conditions without addressing those relating to a list of demands, and on 7, 12 and 24 June 2024 the Ministry of Labour facilitated three dialogue forums between the parties, in which the Ministry did not intervene in any way in the agreements freely adopted by the parties;
   • (iii) with respect to the request for the deduction of union dues, given that the Ministry of Labour did not respond to this enquiry, the analysis of the National Land Agency will be carried out as part of its review of the list of demands;
   • (iv) the National Land Agency indicates that it is responding to all requests for information submitted by the ATI, including the grounds for not renewing the contracts of 20 of its affiliated contractors, which were raised in the dialogue forum of 24 June 2024; it adds that the performance of contractors Eduar Yohanu Carreño Castro and Katiuska Paola Franco Montes was satisfactory and the reason that they were not engaged for the second half of 2024 was because there was no obligation on the contracting entity to renew their contracts once they expired on 30 June and similarly the fact that the 20 affiliated contractors were not renewed was due to the expiry of the term stipulated in their contracts.

C. The Committee’s conclusions

1. 114. The Committee observes that this case refers to allegations of acts contrary to freedom of association and collective bargaining made against the National Land Agency, a body under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development responsible for implementing rural land ownership policy, in that the contracts of contractors who are members of the ATI trade union were not renewed, the Agency declined to bargain collectively and union dues were not collected from the members of the aforementioned trade union.
2. 115. The Committee notes that the ATI alleges, firstly, that various contractors of the National Land Agency who are members of the ATI did not have their contracts renewed after participating in a working group with the National Land Agency in 2023 and that in June 2024 the contracts of 20 members of the ATI were not renewed despite their good performance and without objective reasons being provided to support the decision. The Committee observes that the Government provides information on the reasons for the non-renewal of the contracts of 20 members who ended their contracts in June 2024 (including two members in a situation of vulnerability) according to which it was due to the expiry of the respective contracts, and adds that there is no obligation on the contracting entity to renew them. The Committee also observes that, according to the parties, the matter of the non-renewals was addressed at meetings of a working group involving the National Land Agency and the ATI in 2024 and that no solution was found.
3. 116. The Committee notes this information and observes that under Colombian law, State contractors are natural persons who conclude contracts with public entities to perform activities related to the administration or functioning of the entity, and that those contracts do not create a subordinate relationship and are governed by the General Regulations for Contracting in the Public Administration (Act 80 of 1993). Furthermore, the Committee observes that in Constitutional Court Judgment T376 of 2020 to which the Government refers, the Court recognized State contractors’ right to organize.
4. 117. The Committee also notes that, according to data published by the National Labour Agency, as of 12 March 2026, the said agency had 6,143 contractors, of whom: (i) 972 provided management support services through service provision contracts; (ii) 5,160 provided professional services through service provision contracts; and (iii) 11 provided consultancy services through consultancy contracts in the framework of projects financed by the Inter-American Development Bank or the World Bank.
5. 118. Concerning the allegations of the non-renewal of contracts of ATI members, including several alleged cases of retaliation for their participation in a working group to address reports of workplace harassment and violations of the right to disconnect from work, the Committee underscores, firstly, that its competence in such situations is limited to determining whether those non-renewals were anti-union in nature. In this connection, the Committee recalls that it considered that the Government is responsible for preventing all acts of anti-union discrimination and it must ensure that complaints of anti-union discrimination are examined in the framework of national procedures which should be prompt, impartial and considered as such by the parties concerned [see Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association, sixth edition, 2018, para. 1138]. Accordingly, the Committee requests that the Government take measures to ensure that an independent investigation is carried out without delay into the reasons for the non-renewal by the National Land Agency of the contracts of the 20 members of the ATI. The Committee requests that the Government report back on the investigations conducted and the outcome.
6. 119. The Committee notes, secondly, that the ATI alleges that, despite having submitted its list of demands in February 2024, the National Land Agency did not set up the relevant negotiating table, indicating that contractors may not negotiate collective agreements or accords or submit lists of demands, which was why dialogue forums were set up instead – a situation that disregards the fact that, according to the complainant, in accordance with Decree 243 of 2024, the ATI may bargain collectively and conclude collective agreements. The Committee also notes that, based on Constitutional Court Judgment T376 of 2020, the Government indicates that contractors may not negotiate collective agreements or accords or submit lists of demands, given that they do not provide services in a subordinate relationship, which was why the National Land Agency and the Ministry of Labour implemented working groups to handle matters related to the improvement of contractors’ general terms and conditions and not labour-related matters specific to collective bargaining, adding that the contractors of the Administration do not fall under Decree 243 of 2020 because it governs collective bargaining of organizations of public employees and not of contractors who are covered by the regulations on State contracting.
7. 120. Furthermore, the Committee observes that, in the aforementioned Judgment T376 of 2020, the Constitutional Court: (i) highlighted that the Colombian Constitution (art. 55) recognizes the right of all persons to participate in decisions that may affect them and imposes on the State the duty to promote concertation and other means of a similar nature for the peaceful settlement of disputes; and (ii) recognized State contractors’ right to organize, it considered that the nature of their relationship with the Administration meant that that prerogative was limited and that one of those limitations was that they may not negotiate collective agreements or accords given that these govern work in a subordinate relationship, which does not prevent them from petitioning the authorities through the trade union on the improvement of the general terms and conditions in which they provide services.
8. 121. The Committee duly notes this information. Concerning the specific needs of the State, the Committee underscores that mechanisms exist to balance the requirements of sound management of public institutions and resources on the one hand with the recognition of the right to bargain collectively on the other.
9. 122. In this context, the Committee duly notes that, at the request of the Ministry of Labour, the National Land Agency and the ATI held a dialogue on the conditions of work of contractors in this Institution. On the basis of the above, the Committee requests that the Government, taking due account of both the needs of the management of the State and its resources and the peculiarities of the contractual relationships of public institutions with workers who perform work for them on the basis of service provider contracts, take measures to ensure that the National Land Agency and the unions representing its contractors may make use of voluntary negotiation mechanisms or other mediation and conciliation procedures to facilitate consensus-based solutions related to their conditions of work.
10. 123. The Committee notes, thirdly, that the ATI alleges that the National Land Agency did not deduct union dues of its contractors despite having received information on the corresponding memberships. The Committee also observes that, in addition to indicating that this aspect will be examined by the National Land Agency as part of its assessment of the content of the list of demands, the information provided by the Government does not refer in detail to the outcome of this assessment or the reasons why the union dues were not deducted. The Committee recalls that the deduction of union dues by employers and their transfer to trade unions is a matter which should be dealt with through collective bargaining between employers and all trade unions without legislative obstruction [see Compilation, para. 701]. The Committee requests that the Government, as part of the measures it takes to ensure that the parties may make use of voluntary negotiation mechanisms or other mediation and conciliation mechanisms and procedures intended to facilitate reaching agreements, promote negotiation on the deduction of union dues by the National Land Agency.

The Committee’s recommendations

1. 124. In the light of the foregoing conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
   • (a) The Committee requests the Government to take measures to ensure that an independent investigation is conducted without delay into the reasons for the non-renewal by the National Land Agency of the contracts of the 20 members of the Association of Independent Workers (ATI). The Committee requests the Government to report back on the investigations and the outcomes.
   • (b) The Committee requests that the Government, taking due account of the needs of both the management of the State and its resources and of the specificities of contractual relationships of public institutions with workers who perform work for them on service provider contracts, take measures to ensure that the National Land Agency and the unions representing its contractors may make use of voluntary negotiation mechanisms or other mediation and conciliation mechanisms or procedures to facilitate consensus-based solutions in relation to their conditions of work. The Committee requests to be kept informed in this respect.
   • (c) The Committee requests that the Government, as part of the measures it takes to ensure that the parties may make use of voluntary negotiation mechanisms or other mediation and conciliation mechanisms and procedures intended to facilitate the conclusion of agreements, promote negotiation on the deduction of union dues by the National Land Agency.