GCTU EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REVIEWS RATIFICATION OF ILO CONVENTIONS
Thursday, April 20, 2017
The Executive Committee of the General Confederation of Trade Unions (GCTU) met in Moscow 13 April 2017 to discuss, among other things, the progress of ratification and compliance with ILO conventions in the countries of GCTU member organisations. Executive Committee said the affiliates had done a significant amount of work to speed up the ratification of the 11 ILO Conventions, as selected by the GCTU in 2004 for priority ratification, with the support from the CIS Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.
Trade unions are currently involved in the preparations for ratifying in the near future: Conventions 102 and 168 in Azerbaijan; Conventions 97, 173 and 131 in Kazakhstan; Conventions 102, 168 and 173 in Moldova, and Conventions 97, 102, 117, 131, 144 and 183 in the Russian Federation.
It is to be regretted, however, that none of the region’s countries has ratified the crucial Convention 168 concerning Employment Promotion and Protection against Unemployment. The meeting also took note of the increasingly frequent prolonged delays in wage payment, which represents a gross violation of Convention 95 ratified by all countries, and called on the unions in the region to do their best to remove the situation and prevent its recurrence in the future
Simultaneously, the Committee expressed concern over the fact that the Report of the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations presented to the 105th Session of the International Labour Conference in June 2016 cites numerous cases of ILO conventions, including fundamental ones, being violated in the countries of the region. The affiliates were called upon to continue their efforts to get the key conventions ratified and duly reflected in national labour legislations and social policies as soon as possible.
After discussing the results of the work done by the Commission on Amending the GCTU Constitution, the Committee approved the draft document as amended, and instructed the Commission to submit it, for consideration and approval, to the GCTU 8th Congress to be held in the autumn of 2017.
The session adopted a statement in connection with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work observed annually on the 28th of April.