Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Sri Lanka (Ratification: 1972)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received.

It has nevertheless taken note of the comments of several workers' organizations on the inadequate application of the Convention.

The Committee recalls that its previous comments related to:

- the necessity to strengthen or adopt legislative provisions in order to ensure full protection of workers against acts of anti-union discrimination and of workers' organizations against acts of interference by employers accompanied by effective and sufficiently dissuasive measures, in accordance with the requirements of Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention;

- the necessity to promote the development and use of procedures for voluntary negotiation of collective agreements between employers and/or employers' organizations and workers' organizations with a view to regulating conditions of employment by this means, in accordance with Article 4.

The Committee notes that the Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers' Union (CMU) and the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers' Union (LJEWU) stress that the Convention is not applied in the free trade zones and in several other industrial establishments within the purview of the Greater Colombo Economic Commission (renamed the Board of Investments), as well as at the Lanka Jathika plantation. The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) for its part regrets the lack of provisions applying Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention and states that for ten years the Government has restricted itself to indicating that it envisages amending the legislation to bring it into conformity with the Convention. The CWC hopes that the necessary legislation will be adopted in the framework of the revision of the labour laws of Sri Lanka which is presently in process.

The Committee stresses firmly to the Government that measures should be adopted, in legislation and in practice, with a view to ensuring the application of the Convention which was ratified over 20 years ago and recalls that the ILO is available for any technical assistance in these fields; it requests the Government to supply in its next report detailed information on any progress made in this respect.