Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights: A Legal Resource Guide

13. ILO Convention No. 154 Concerning the Promotion of Collective Bargaining

Chapter 13 ILO Convention No. 154 Concerning the Promotion of Collective Bargaining (excerpts) Part I: Scope and Definitions Article 1 l. This Convention applies to all branches of economic activity. 2. The extent to which the guarantees provided for in this Convention apply to the armed forces and the police may be determined by national laws or regulations or national practice. 3. As regards the public service, special modalities of application of this Convention may be Wxed by national laws or regulations or national practice. Article 2 For the purpose of this Convention the term “collective bargaining” extends to all negotiations which take place between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations, on the one hand, and one or more workers’ organisations , on the other, for: (a) Determining working conditions and terms of employment; and/or (b) Regulating relations between employers and workers; and/or (c) Regulating relations between employers or their organisations and a workers’ organisation or workers’ organisations. Article 3 1. Where national law or practice recognises the existence of workers’ representatives as deWned in Article 3, subparagraph (b), of the Workers’ Representatives Convention, Adopted 19 June 1981 by the General Conference of the International Labour Organisation, entry into force 11 August 1983, in accordance with Article 11. 1971, national law or practice may determine the extent to which the term “collective bargaining’’ shall also extend, for the purpose of this Convention, to negotiations with these representatives. 2. Where, in pursuance of paragraph I of this Article, the term “collective bargaining” also includes negotiations with the workers’ representatives referred to in that paragraph, appropriate measures shall be taken, wherever necessary, to ensure that the existence of these representatives is not used to undermine the position of the workers’ organisations concerned. Part II: Methods of Application Article 4 The provisions of this Convention shall, in so far as they are not otherwise made effective by means of collective agreements, arbitration awards or in such other manner as may be consistent with national practice, be given effect by national laws or regulations. Part III: Promotion of Collective Bargaining Article 5 1. Measures adapted to national conditions shall be taken to promote collective bargaining. 2. The aims of the measures referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be the following: (a) Collective bargaining should be made possible for all employers and all groups of workers in the branches of activity covered by this Convention; (b) Collective bargaining should be progressively extended to all matters covered by subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Article 2 of this Convention; (c) The establishment of rules of procedure agreed between employers’ and workers’ organisations should be encouraged; (d) Collective bargaining should not be hampered by the absence of rules governing the procedure to be used or by the inadequacy or inappropriateness of such rules; (e) Bodies and procedures for the settlement of labour disputes should be so conceived as to contribute to the promotion of collective bargaining. Article 6 The provisions of this Convention do not preclude the operation of industrial relations systems in which collective bargaining takes place within the framework of conciliation ILO Convention, Promotion of Collective Bargaining 143 and/or arbitration machinery or institutions, in which machinery or institutions the parties to the collective bargaining process voluntarily participate. Article 7 Measures taken by public authorities to encourage and promote the development of collective bargaining shall be the subject of prior consultation and, whenever possible, agreement between public authorities and employers’ and workers’ organisations. Article 8 The measures taken with a view to promoting collective bargaining shall not be so conceived or applied as to hamper the freedom of collective bargaining. . . . 144 Treaties ...