Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 1982)

1. The Committee notes the communication received from the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) in February 1999, which refers to the dismissal of employees from the legal sector as a consequence of the restructuring of the Judicial Council and closing of local law courts. The WCL considers that the dismissals constitute a violation of the principles established in the Convention. In its reply the Government states that the reorganization of the Judiciary was undertaken without redundancies. The local law courts were replaced by new municipal law courts staffed with the employees from the former institutions.

2. The WCL also refers to the representation submitted, under article 24 of the Constitution of the ILO, by the Latin American Central of Workers (CLAT) as regards application of the Convention. The Committee recalls that the tripartite committee set up by the Governing Body of the ILO to examine the representation submitted by the CLAT and the Latin American Federation of Trade Workers (FETRALCOS) expressed the opinion that it would be in conformity with the requirements of the Convention for the Government to take advantage of the effort made by the workers in the informal sector to organize themselves to seek, through dialogue, in the spirit of Article 3 of the Convention, solutions to the employment problems arising from the existence of a very substantial informal sector (document GB.273/14/5, adopted in November 1998). The Committee trusts that the Government will include in its next report complete and detailed information on the employment policy measures adopted with regard to the informal sector, as well as the manner in which the representatives of persons affected in this sector are consulted in respect of employment policy.