Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Colombia (Ratification: 1976)

Trade union census. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to continue to provide information on developments in the findings of the trade union census. The Committee welcomes the Trade Union Census Plan, implemented in accordance with Decree No. 243 of 2024, under which: (i) information was collected from 2,197 prioritized public entities (99.4 per cent compliance), identifying 1,570 active trade unions and 203,517 members, which is equivalent to a unionization rate of 23.8 per cent in the public sector; and (ii) in July 2025, the plan to develop the modules of the trade union administrative register was implemented, which will run until December 2025, comprising the design and implementation of a modular system, including a module for the registration of trade unions with extensions for the private sector. The Committee also notes the observations of the National Employers Association of Colombia (ANDI), which refer to the findings of the 2024 Collective Labour Relations Survey, conducted in 119 enterprises, indicating that the unionization rate in the enterprises affiliated with ANDI reached 27.8 per cent. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the trade union census with a view to obtaining updated figures on the number of unionized workers, in both the public and private sectors, in the country.

Article 3. Right of trade unions to organize their activities. Facilities. The Committee notes with interest that Decree No. 720 of 2024 amends the regulations on trade union leave in the public sector, extending the beneficiaries to include various representatives and members, incorporating criteria of proportionality and reasonableness and encouraging prior agreements between employers and trade unions to ensure consensual management of such leave in advance.The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any initiatives to achieve similar outcomes in the private sector.

Right of trade union organizations to determine their structure. The Committee recalls that: (i) in previous comments, it examined the observations of the trade union confederations, according to which the legislation in force did not permit the creation of sections at the regional and departmental level or the possibility for national level unions to establish sections or chapters in the same municipal area in which they have their national headquarters; and (ii) it noted with interest that the draft labour reform of 2023 sought to amend section 391A of the Substantive Labour Code to address such situations. Noting that the above-mentioned provision of the Substantive Labour Code has not been amended, the Committee invites the Government to, in consultation with the social partners, identify measures to strengthen the right of trade union organizations to determine their own structure.