Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Bulgaria (Ratification: 1959)

1. The Committee takes note of the information contained in the Government’s report. It observes, however, that the report does not contain a reply to the Committee’s previous comments which concerned:

-  the need to provide information on the provisions which protect workers’ organizations against acts of interference by employers’ organizations and vice versa, in particular through dissuasive sanctions, in accordance with Article 2 of the Convention;

-  the need to clarify the conditions for the conclusion of collective agreements at the industry or branch levels: in particular, noting that section 51(b)(1) and (2) of the Labour Code, as amended, provides that collective agreements at the level of the branch or industry are concluded between the representative workers’ and employers’ organizations on the basis of an agreement between the national organizations to which they are respectively affiliated and which determine a general framework, the Committee requested the Government to specify whether a majority organization in the industry or the branch can conclude a collective agreement even if it is not affiliated to a national representative organization and to provide a copy of the general framework agreement concluded between national organizations of employers and workers on collective bargaining at the branch or industry levels.

The Committee once again requests the Government to provide the above information and trusts that the Government’s next report will contain full information in this respect.

2. The Committee also takes note of the comments made by the Confederation of the Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB) and the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC) on the Government’s report. It notes in particular that, according to the CITUB, the Civil Service Act does not regulate the possibility for public servants to conclude collective agreements. The Committee recalls that, under the Convention, civil servants who are not engaged in the administration of the State should have the right to engage in collective bargaining and requests the Government to provide its observations on these comments.