Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Benin (Ratification: 1968)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 1 September 2016, which are essentially a repetition of its 2016 observations. The Committee also notes the comments provided by the Government in reply to the 2016 observations of the ITUC.

Article 4 of the Convention. Promotion of collective bargaining. Determination of the organizations to be engaged in collective bargaining at the sectoral level. The Committee notes the absence of a reply from the Government to the ITUC’s observation that collective bargaining is in practice subject to the intervention of the Ministry of Labour or the labour inspectorate, which designates the trade union representatives on bargaining committees at the sectoral level. The Committee requests the Government to specify how in practice employers’ and workers’ organizations are selected for the joint sectoral committees provided for in section 122 of the Labour Code.

Threshold of representativity for first-level trade unions. The Committee notes that the ITUC considers that the proportion of votes required in occupational elections for a first-level trade union to be considered representative is too high (40 per cent of the votes cast). The Committee notes the Government’s reply in which it recalls that this threshold was agreed in the National Labour Council with the objective of avoiding the fragmentation of trade union representation. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the extent to which this threshold of representativity has an impact on participation in collective bargaining at the enterprise level.

Dispute resolution mechanisms. With reference to the observations of the ITUC on compulsory recourse to particularly long procedures of mediation or arbitration in the event of a dispute during collective bargaining, the Committee recalls that it considers machinery to support bargaining, such as information, conciliation, mediation or voluntary arbitration, to be admissible (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 200). Nevertheless, its implementation must not hinder the promotion and development of collective bargaining within the meaning of the Convention. The Committee hopes that the Government will ensure in practice compliance with the above principle in the collective bargaining process.

Right to collective bargaining in practice. The Committee notes the Government’s general information regarding the collective agreements concluded in the port, construction, banking and insurance sectors. The Committee requests the Government to provide full information on the number of agreements concluded in the country, the sectors concerned and the number of workers covered.