Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Senegal (Ratification: 1960)

In its previous observation, the Committee noted the serious allegations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) received in 2012 concerning the violent police repression of a general assembly of the National Postal and Telecommunications Workers Union (SNTPTS), held in front of the postal services General Directorate in Dakar. In its reply, the Government confines itself to indicating that the police do not interfere in peaceful demonstrations, except to perform their supervisory role. The Committee wishes to recall once again that the right to organize meetings is an essential element of the rights of employers’ and workers’ organizations and that the public authorities should refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede its legal exercise, unless such exercise seriously and imminently endangers public order. The Committee also notes the observations of the ITUC received on 1 September 2015 including on the recurring difficulties in registering trade unions. In this regard, the Committee recalls that workers and employers should have the right to establish the organizations that they consider appropriate in a climate of security, and any delay caused by the authorities in registering these organizations would constitute a denial of their rights and a violation of the Convention. The Committee urges the Government to ensure the full respect of these principles, and to provide its comments in reply to the most recent observations of the ITUC.

The Committee also notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) received on 1 September 2015, which are of a general nature.

Bringing legislation into conformity with the Convention. The Committee recalls that for over ten years its comments have related to the need to amend several legal provisions to bring them into conformity with the Convention. During this period, the Government has always expressed its willingness to make these amendments. In its latest report, the Government indicates once again that the process to amend the legislation on all the points raised by the Committee has been initiated and is ongoing. The Committee notes with regret the time that has elapsed without any progress being made in bringing the legislation into conformity with the Convention, and urges the Government to take all the necessary measures to complete the legislative reform process in order to bring national law into conformity with the Convention on the following points:

• -Article 2 of the Convention. Trade union rights of minors. The need to amend the Labour Code to guarantee the right to organize of minors who have reached the statutory minimum age for admission to work (persons of 15 years of age, under section L.145 of the Labour Code), and who have access to the labour market both as workers and as apprentices, without authorization by their parents or guardians being necessary.
• -Articles 2, 5 and 6. Right of workers to establish organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization. The need to repeal Act No. 76-28 of 6 April 1976 and to amend section L.8 of the Labour Code (as amended in 1997) so as to guarantee to workers and their organizations the right to establish organizations of their own choosing by abolishing the requirement of previous authorization from the Ministry of the Interior. Noting that the Government reiterates that the State has the basic responsibility of ensuring that the founders of an organization of any kind have a good moral character and are not in conflict with the law, the Committee is bound once again to recall that the provisions of Act No. 76-28 of 6 April 1976, repeated in section L.8 of the Labour Code, which, in practice, grant the Minister of the Interior discretionary power to issue a receipt conferring recognition of the existence of a trade union, are incompatible with Article 2 of the Convention.
• -Article 3. The right of organizations to exercise their activities in full freedom and to formulate their programmes. The need to adopt the Decree implementing section L.276 of the Labour Code, to establish a list of jobs in which the requisitioning of workers is only authorized in the event of a strike to ensure the operation of essential services in the strict sense of the term.
• -The need to amend the Labour Code to include a provision ensuring that the restrictions set forth in section L.276 of the Labour Code concerning the occupation of workplaces or their immediate surroundings during strikes only apply when strikes cease to be peaceful or when respect for the freedom to work of non-strikers and the right of the management to enter the premises of the enterprise are hindered.
• -Article 4. Dissolution by administrative authority. The need to adopt a provision, in a law or regulations, that expressly establishes that the dissolution of seditious associations, as envisaged by Act No. 65-40 on associations, may in no event be applied to industrial associations. In this regard, the Committee notes the Government’s comment that an industrial association that protects the interests of its members cannot be classed as a seditious association and would not be affected by the possibility of dissolution by administrative authority. However, the Government adds that the process of bringing the Act into conformity with the Convention on this point is still ongoing.