Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1993, published 80th ILC session (1993)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Ethiopia (Ratification: 1963)

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with satisfaction that Labour Proclamation No. 42/1993 which entered into force on 20 January 1993 removes most of the incompatibilities with the Convention that was established by previous labour legislation. It would however request the Government for clarification on the following points:

1. The Committee would ask the Government to provide information on what measures have been taken to allow workers mentioned in section 3(2)(a), (b), (c) and (e) of the Proclamation and who are currently excluded from its scope, to establish and join organizations in order to promote their occupational interests, in conformity with Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee further requests the Government to provide copies, if any, of the relevant legislation.

2. The Committee notes that the legislation contains broad restrictions on the right to strike: the definition of essential services contained in section 136(2) is too broad and should notably not include air transport and railway services, urban and inter-urban bus services and filling stations, banks and postal and telecommunications services (section 136(2)(a), (d), (f) and (h)); sections 141(1), 142(3), 151(1), 152(1), 160(1) and (2) allow labour disputes to be reported to the Ministry for conciliation and binding arbitration by either of the disputing parties.

The Committee therefore requests the Government to amend its legislation so that the ban on strikes is limited to essential services in the strict sense of the term and disputes may be submitted to the Labour Relations Board for binding arbitration only if both parties agree or in relation to essential services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population or in case of an acute national crisis.

3. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on whether federations enjoy the same protection as is afforded to first-level organizations under the Proclamation, in conformity with Article 6 of the Convention.

4. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether Labour Proclamation No. 223 respecting the consolidation of peasants' organizations has been repealed since section 192 of this Proclamation which repeals other labour-related legislation does not refer to it.