Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - France (Ratification: 1951)

The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report including the three comments presented by the French Democratic Confederation of Workers (CFDT). It has also noted the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 2233 (see 332nd Report, paragraphs 614 to 646, approved by the Governing Body at its 288th Session) concerning the right to collective bargaining of bailiffs, as employers, in the light of Order No. 45-2592 governing their status.

Article 4 of the Convention. The Committee notes that Order No. 45-2592 requires bailiffs to be members of the National Chamber of Bailiffs. Furthermore, the Administrative Court and the Administrative Court of Appeal have both recently established, on the basis of article 8 of the above Order, that the Chamber has sole competence for collective bargaining. The effect of this interpretation is to exclude the National Union of Bailiffs from the collective bargaining process despite its representativeness in the profession. The Committee further notes that the National Chamber of Bailiffs has a special status under which it is answerable to the administrative or judicial authority, has duties of a public nature and participates in the exercise of public authority. The Committee therefore asks the Government to take the necessary steps to amend Order No. 45-2592 so that bailiffs are free to choose for the purpose of representing their interests in the collective bargaining process, organizations which are employers’ organizations that may be regarded as independent of the public authorities, so as to ensure fully the voluntary nature of collective bargaining, in accordance with Article 4.

Lastly, the Committee notes that Orders governing the status of other ministerial officers contain similar provisions to those of Order No. 45-2592 and so raise issues of compatibility with the Convention. It refers in this connection to the following Orders of 2 November 1945: No. 45-2590 on the status of notaries; No. 45-2591 on the status of solicitors; and No. 45-2593 on the status of judicial auctioneers and valuers. The Committee requests the Government to review the provisions of these Orders as well in the light of the above comments and to respond to all the above matters in its next report.