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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Ecuador (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the Government’s report. It also notes the comments of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), dated 6 June 2005, on the application of the Convention, which principally refer to matters already raised by the Committee. The Committee requests that the Government provide its observations in its next report on the ICFTU’s comments that allege that temporary workers are not covered by the guarantees set out in the Convention.

The Committee recalls that for many years its observations have been referring to the following matters:

–      the need to reduce the minimum number of workers (30) required to establish associations, works committees or assemblies to organize works committees (sections 450, 466 and 459 of the Labour Code);

–      the need to amend sections 59(f) and 60(g) of the Civil Service and Administrative Careers Act, and article 45(10) of the Political Constitution, with a view to ensuring that public servants have the right to establish organizations to further and defend their occupational and economic interests and to have recourse to strike action;

–      the need to amend section 522(2) of the Labour Code respecting the determination of minimum services by the Ministry of Labour in case of disagreement between the parties;

–      the implicit denial of the right to strike to federations and confederations (section 505 of the Labour Code);

–      the imposition of prison sentences for participation in illegal work stoppages and strikes (Decree No. 105 of 7 June 1967); and

–      the requirement of Ecuadorian nationality to serve as a trade union officer (section 466(4) of the Labour Code).

The Committee regrets that in relation to all these comments the Government confines itself in its report to making statements of a general nature, indicating that the provisions of section 450 of the Labour Code on the minimum number of workers required to establish an association do not impair the right to organize in the country, and that the requirements set out by the law for the establishment of trade unions are inevitable to prevent a series of conflicts leading to challenges and applications for protection from the Constitutional Court. Under these conditions, the Committee requests the Government to take measures to amend the legislative provisions in question, which in some cases relate to serious violations of the Convention, such as the prohibition for public servants to enjoy the right to establish organizations to further and defend their occupational and economic interests, and to provide information in its next report on any measures adopted in this respect. The Committee reminds the Government that if it is planning to reform the legislation, it can have recourse to the technical assistance of the Office to ensure that it is in full conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

With regard to workers in the public education sector, the Committee makes its comments in an observation concerning Convention No. 98.

Finally, with reference to the ICFTU’s comments on the application of the Convention, which were submitted on 19 July 2004, the Committee regrets that the Government has not provided its observations on the allegation that striking workers were replaced in the Petroecuador company or on the violent repression by the police and the arrest of 70 persons during a march by teachers on 10 December 2003. In this respect, the Committee recalls that the hiring of workers to break a strike in a sector which cannot be considered an essential service in the strict sense of the term is an infringement of the principles of freedom of association. Furthermore, the Committee emphasizes that the authorities should resort to calling in the police in a strike situation only where the situation is of a serious nature or if there is a genuine threat to public order.