Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Mauritius (Ratification: 2005)

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities and formulate their programmes. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that revised section 78(3) of the Employment Relations Act (ERA) provides that a secret strike ballot shall be successful where it obtains the support of the “majority of workers in the bargaining unit concerned by the labour dispute”. The Committee requested the Government to clarify whether the majority required under section 78(3) entailed a simple majority of the votes cast and, if so, to indicate whether there was any quorum requirement and, if not, to amend this section so as to bring it into conformity with the Convention. Noting the absence of a reply from the Government, the Committee recalls that, in order not to unduly limit the right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities, the legislative provisions requiring a vote by workers before a strike should ensure that account is taken only of the votes cast by those deciding whether or not to have recourse to a strike – whether across the workplace as a whole or in a particular bargaining unit – and not by all workers entitled to vote in that workplace or bargaining unit. The Committee therefore once again reiterates its request to the Government to take measures to ensure that section 78(3) of the ERA is amended so that only the votes cast are taken into account when calculating the majority.

The Committee also requested the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 82(1)(b) of the ERA so that compulsory arbitration may only be imposed at the request of both parties to a dispute and in the case of disputes in the public service involving public servants exercising authority in the name of the State or in essential services in the strict sense of the term; and to amend section 82(1)(a) and (2) of the Act so that a minimum service may not be imposed simply because the duration of a strike may disrupt a service, industry or employment. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that no strike vote in public services has been envisaged since the entry into force of these provisions, which have consequently not had to be used by the Government, and its comments concerning the purpose of this discretionary power, “the sole aim of which is to de-escalate any acute national crisis”. While noting the Government’s indication, the Committee reiterates that the powers conferred on the Government by sections 82(1)(b) and 82(1)(a) and (2) of the ERA are too broad with respect to compulsory arbitration and the imposition of minimum services, and it recalls that the disruption that an industry, service or employment may face because of the length of a strike does not in itself constitute a justification for establishing a minimum service. Accordingly, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to amend section 82(1)(b) of the ERA so that compulsory arbitration may be imposed only in the circumstances indicated above and to amend section 82(1)(a) and (2) of the ERA so that a minimum service may not be established merely because the duration of a strike may disrupt a service, industry or employment. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any development in this regard.

With regard to the framework established by sections 67 and 77(b) of the ERA pursuant to which labour disputes may not be reported and no recourse to strike allowed when a collective agreement is in force, the Committee requested the Government to keep it informed of any application of the powers conferred by sections 58 and 86 of the ERA. More specifically, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on any practical application: of the possibility that the parties may jointly vary a collective agreement under the circumstances provided for in the agreement or if there is a substantial change of circumstances that warrants such variation and, if one of the parties refuses to vary the agreement, that an application for a variation may be made to the Employment Relations Tribunal (section 58); and of the powers conferred on the Employment Relations Tribunal to interpret collective agreements, make awards and orders in relation to recognition, “check-off” agreements, employment of non-unionized workers, minimum service and other issues addressed under the Act (section 86). The Committee notes the Government’s indications that 214 collective agreements were registered with the Ministry of Labour between January 2021 and December 2023 and that these entries related as much to new agreements as to variations, but notes that these indications do not provide sufficient information in reply to its questions. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide information on any practical application of the provisions indicated above, since their entry into force in 2019, distinguishing: (i) cases involving variations based on consensus or imposed by the Employment Relations Tribunal (section 58); and (ii) the type of powers exercised by the Employment Relations Tribunal (section 86).