Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 1968)

Articles 5 and 6 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government's report and recalls that its previous comment dealt with section 426 of the Organic Act respecting the national armed forces, as amended in 1983, which allows the exclusion of civilian staff employed by the national armed forces, as well as employees of independent institutes and state enterprises dependent on the Ministry of Defence from the right to conclude labour agreements, whereas only public servants engaged in the administration of the State and the armed forces themselves may be excluded from the scope of the Convention.

In its report, the Government indicates that important developments have occurred in the public administration as regards collective bargaining, but no final response has yet been agreed. The changes that have been made in the Labour Bill, particularly as regards its scope, could have a direct effect on the right to collective bargaining in the public service.

While noting these statements, the Committee trusts that the legislation will be made more flexible and that appropriate measures will be taken to encourage and promote the development and utilisation of machinery for the voluntary negotiation of collective agreements between the civilian staff of the armed forces, independent institutes and state enterprises dependent on the Ministry of Defence and their employers with a view to the regulation, by these means, of terms and conditions of employment, in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention. It requests the Government to supply information on the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention on this point.