Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Sao Tome and Principe (Ratification: 1992)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. The Committee had asked the Government to indicate what sanctions may be imposed against acts of anti-union discrimination and interference. The Committee had noted the Government’s indication in a previous report that legislation does not provide for sanctions. The Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary measures in the very near future with a view to adopting appropriate legislation which imposes sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions against acts of anti-union discrimination and acts of interference by employers in trade union organizations, in conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

Article 4. The Committee noted a draft law on the rules governing collective bargaining and considered that in general terms its provisions comply with the Convention. It noted that the draft law was still before the Assembly of the Republic. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government once again to provide clarifications on the conciliation procedure mentioned in the draft law (duration, possibility of collective action once the conciliation procedure has been completed) (section 14 of the draft) and to inform it in its next report whether the draft law has been adopted.

Furthermore, the Committee had noted the Government’s indication in a previous report that civil servants are able to bargain collectively on their conditions of work. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the legislation applicable and to send a copy of the relevant provisions.