Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Liberia (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes with regret that for the seventh year in succession the Government's report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

The Committee notes that there has been no change in the legislative situation, which has been the subject of its comments for many years. The Committee recalls the need to amend or repeal Decree No. 12 of 30 June 1980 which prohibits strikes, section 4601-A of the Labour Practices Law which prohibits agricultural workers from joining industrial workers' organizations, and section 4102, subsections 10 and 11, of the Labour Practices Law which provides for the supervision of trade union elections by the Labour Practices Review Board. The Committee observes that these provisions are still in force and that they are contrary to Articles 2, 3, 5 and 10 of the Convention. Furthermore, the Committee recalls that the right to associate of workers in state enterprises and the public service is still not recognized in the national legislation, despite the Government's assurances in previous reports that the Civil Service Act was to be amended in order to give statutory effect to the right of the workers in this sector to establish and join organizations of their own choosing, in accordance with Article 2 of the Convention. However, in its previous observation, the Committee noted from the information furnished by the Government to the Conference Committee in 1987 that, in practice, there are organizations of public servants and of rural workers, that strikes have occurred without sanctions being applied and that trade union elections are only supervised by the Ministry of Labour at the invitation of the trade union organization in question.

Accordingly, the Committee again urges the Government to take the necessary measures in the very near future to amend its legislation in respect of the above matters which have repeatedly been the subject of its comments.