Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - United Republic of Tanzania (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee recalls that its previous comments concerned:

Scope of the Convention. The necessity to take measures to: (i) amend section 2(1)(iii) of the Employment and Labour Relations Act (No. 6 of 2004) (ELRA) so that members of the prison service enjoy the rights enshrined in the Convention; and (ii) amend section 2(1)(iv) of the ELRA so that it is clearly indicated that only the military members of the national service are excluded from the scope of the Act.

Article 4 of the Convention. Compulsory arbitration. Necessity to take measures to amend sections 17 and 18 of the Public Service (Negotiating Machinery) Act, so as to ensure that compulsory arbitration in the framework of collective bargaining, is only acceptable in relation to public servants engaged in the administration of the State (Article 6 of the Convention), essential services in the strict sense of the term and acute national crisis.

Noting that the Government indicates that the matters referred to above will be taken into account during the ongoing Labour law reform, the Committee expects that its next report will contain detailed information on progress made in this regard.

Article 4. Collective bargaining in practice. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of collective agreements signed and in force in the country, indicating the sectors and the number of workers covered.

Zanzibar

Article 4 of the Convention. Trade union recognition for purposes of collective bargaining. On several occasions, the Committee requested the Government to indicate whether, under section 57(2) of the Labour Relations Act of 2005 (LRA), where no union covers more than 50 per cent of the workers in a bargaining unit, the minority unions can enter into collective bargaining, at least on behalf of their members. The Committee notes that for the Government section 57(2) of the Act does not refer to the absolute majority and therefore cannot be understood as imposing a 50 per cent threshold for an organization to be authorized to engage in collective bargaining, as it reads: “A representative trade union for the purpose of [collective bargaining] means a registered trade union that represents the majority of employees at appropriate bargaining level and recognised as such under this section”. In view of the above, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures with a view to modifying section 57 of the LRA in order to remove any ambiguity concerning the meaning of the term “majority” and clarifying that the most representative trade union shall have an exclusive right to bargain with the employer.

Categories of employees excluded from the right to bargain collectively. In its previous comments the Committee had requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 54(2)(b) of the LRA, so as to guarantee to managerial employees the right to collective bargaining with respect to salaries and other working conditions, and to indicate the categories of employees excluded from the right to bargain collectively by the minister under section 54(2)(c) of the LRA. The Committee notes that the Government agrees that these provisions can be amended. The Committee expects that the Government will take any necessary measures to ensure full compliance with the abovementioned principle and that it will be in a position to report on progress in this regard.

The Committee reminds the Government that it may avail itself of technical assistance from the Office with respect to all issues raised in its present comments.