2010 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Côte d’Ivoire

Population: 21,100,000
Capital: Yamoussoukro
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 138 – 182

The State as an employer did not respect its commitment towards the public sector unions and arbitrarily and excessively repressed strikes. Dock workers and their organisation were also victims of trade union rights violations. Despite several shortcomings, fundamental trade union rights are guaranteed in law.

Trade union rights in law

The Constitution of 23 July 2000 guarantees freedom of association and the right to strike in both the private and the public sector, but the guarantees are frustrated by a number of restrictions. Foreigners may not hold union office until they have been residents for at least three years, unless there is a reciprocal trade union and worker protection agreement with the foreigners’ home country.

Workers are vulnerable to anti-union discrimination, as the Labour Code does not provide for sufficiently dissuasive sanctions. Also, all labour disputes must go through a complicated conciliation and mediation procedure. The President of the Republic may submit strikes in essential services to arbitration, but the Labour Code does not contain a list of services considered to be essential.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2009

Background: The establishment of electoral lists was not settled. The presidential election was postponed twice. Despite the appointment of civilian administrators by the government, the north of the country remains under de facto control of the former rebels, who control natural resources and levy taxes.

Public sector agreements ignored: The health and education sectors and the civil service were frequently paralysed by strikes over the failure to meet promises on pay, statutes and legal advantages. Repeated strikes by education workers resulted each time in commitments by the government or the President of the Republic. However, the agreements were never implemented and the strikers were punished (see “Violations 2009”).

Dockers’ strike meets repression: Workers at the Abidjan and San Pedro ports went on strike on 2 June. Further to the failure of the recruitment agency Sempa-Bmond to meet its commitments, contained in an agreement signed on 10 May with the dock workers’ union the Collectif national des dockers et dockers transit (CNDD), thousands of employees stopped work. The union stepped up its action when Sempa-Bmod resorted to intimidation, threatening to dismiss the strikers and replace them. The authorities took repressive measures, arresting 13 “ringleaders” and wounding dozens of dockers. The violence left about 60 people injured, several of them severely. The CNDD ended the strike on 17 June after mediation led by the President of the Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo.

Two union leaders dismissed by a Bouygues subsidiary: On 20 July management at the Ivory Coast Water Distribution Company SODECI, belonging to the French group Bouygues, dismissed François Yao, general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Workers (SYNASEG), and Billé Amon, general secretary of the National Union of Water Workers (SYNASTRASE). The two leaders had been suspended since the beginning of the year for no real reason other than their union activism. The SYNASEG had won a labour agreement in 2008 after three years of negotiations. The authorities called for the reinstatement of both trade unionists, but by the end of the year management had still not lifted its sanctions.

Public sector strikers punished: Four officials from the National Union of Secondary School Teachers (SYNESCI) were arrested and manhandled by the police during a strike from 12 November to 2 December organised by the education unions. They remained in detention until the day of their trial on 17 December. They were given six-month suspended prison sentences, even though the agreement that put an end to the strike stipulated that they should be released immediately.

In the health sector, broken promises radicalised and mobilised all health care workers belonging to the Health Sector Trade Unions Coordination. On 15 December, three days after the strike began, the President of the Republic decreed the requisition of the strikers, threatening them with sanctions. The strikers protested, declaring that it was a violation of the right to strike. The Coordination did suspend the strike however until 19 December.

A third industrial dispute also ended in repression. On 8 December, a strike by the Local Government Unions Collective (the fourth in the year) led to the arrest of 47 civil servants. They were held in custody until the court gave its ruling on 22 December: 41 of the accused, including many women, were given two-month suspended sentences, and the remainder were acquitted.

The trade union rights of court clerks were also flouted. When their demands did not produce any tangible results, they called a strike until the end of the year. The authorities responded on 14 December by suspending their salaries and announcing the recruitment of new clerks. Despite the suspension of the strike on 16 December, the clerks continued to face threats.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/category,,ITUC,ANNUALREPORT,CIV,4c4fec83c,0.html

2009 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Côte d’Ivoire

Population: 19,600,000
Capital: Yamoussoukro
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 138 – 182

The rising price of basic goods and the authorities’ failure to implement labour agreements – some of them dating back six years – have led to mounting discontent among workers and their unions. There were many strikes and demonstrations which were harshly repressed, particularly in the north which is still under the de facto control of the “former” rebel forces.

Trade union rights in law

The Constitution of 23 July 2000 guarantees the right to form trade unions and the right to strike in both the public and private sectors.

Freedom of association: The labour laws give workers, the liberal professions and self-employed workers who do not employ staff, the right to form and join trade unions. Only military personnel and police officers are excluded from these provisions, which is not in contravention of international labour standards. Employers are prohibited from applying pressure either for or against a trade union. Only Côte d’Ivoire nationals, nationals of a country with which reciprocal trade union and worker protection agreements have been concluded, and foreigners who have been legal residents in the country for at least three years, may exercise administrative and managerial functions in a trade union.

Collective bargaining: All workers, with the exception of military personnel and police officers, have the right to collective bargaining. The ILO has noted that the Labour Code does not provide sufficient sanctions to deter employers taking measures against trade unionists for trade union activities.

Right to strike – restrictions: Strikes are prohibited until a complicated conciliation and mediation procedure has been exhausted and a notice period of six working days has elapsed. The President of the Republic may, if he considers that the strike could threaten public order or the general interest, submit the dispute to arbitration. This may be the case when “the strike affects an essential service whose interruption could endanger the lives, health or security of all or a part of the population “, and in an “acute national crisis”. The Labour Code does not list the services considered to be essential.

In the public sector, the right to strike is also recognised, once again with the obligation to respect the six day notice period. Staggered work stoppages or rolling strikes are prohibited. A minimum service is required, in particular in public hospitals.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2008

Background: At the beginning of April, demonstrations against the high cost of living left at least two dead and dozens more injured. The November elections, continually postponed since 2005, were cancelled yet again, officially for technical reasons, but the real reasons were the growing security problems, the interruption of the registration process for the electoral roll, and a country still divided in two, with the north under the de facto control of the former rebels.

Repression of a workers’ march at the port of Abidjan: On 28 January a demonstration organised by the workers’ collective in the Vridi port area was violently repressed by police. The collective, whose members include trade unions, organised the demonstration to draw the public authorities’ attention to the injustice suffered by the victims of the Probo Koala scandal. The oil tanker had discharged tons of toxic waste in the port, provoking a public health disaster, killing dozens and poisoning thousands. The organisers had planned a peaceful march and had applied for permission from the authorities within the legal time limit, but it was violently dispersed by police. At least 20 demonstrators were injured. Four of the collective’s leaders and about 50 workers were arrested, before being released a few hours later.

Energy workers sign agreement with employer: After three years of industrial dispute and anti-union harassment, the Ivorian Electricity Company (CIE), a subsidiary of the Bouygues group, agreed on 30 April to sign a framework agreement with the National Union of Energy Workers (SYNASEG). The agreement commits the employer to recognising trade union rights and promoting social dialogue.

Civil service strikes repressed in north: At the end of October six people were injured, including two seriously, and 44 arrested when Force nouvelles (the former rebels) soldiers crushed a civil servants’ demonstration in the town of Korhogo. At the end of November, fresh strikes broke out in other towns in the north of the country. In Bouaké, dozens of teachers were briefly detained by soldiers who had come to remove the strikers. Most of the strikes were organised by the Movement of Redeployed Civil Servants of Ivory Coast (MOFORCI). The union was protesting at delays in paying installation allowances promised to civil servants redeployed in the northern areas of the country which are still under the de facto control of the former rebels.

Despair among striking local authority employees: The Union of Local Authority Employees of Ivory Coast (SYNAPECO-CI) and the National Ivory Coast Municipal Police Union (SYNAPOMU-CI) went on strike three times during the year to protest against their deplorable working conditions and the failure to respect the collective agreements signed in 2002. Many strikers were briefly arrested during the strikes. On 5 August in Port Bouët, Gogo Anselme and Traoré Adama, two members of the SYNAPECO-CI national executive bureau, and eight local authority police officers, were arrested as they were about to hold a meeting in the town hall to report on the progress of the strike. They were released a few hours later.

Teachers no better off: Throughout the year teachers’ unions called for the application of the pay reviews promised them in the past. Social dialogue was weak, resulting in several “illegal” strikes.

Interference in doctor’s unions’ activities: On 12 December, Dr Atté Boka, General Secretary of the National Union of Senior Health Service Managers (“Syndicat national des cadres supérieurs de la santé de Côte d’Ivoire”, SYNACASS-CI), was removed from his post without explanation. The decision came as doctors were awaiting a pay rise due at the beginning of 2009 and the settlement of several other demands. This was clearly another attempt at intimidation, say SYNACASS-CI. In 2007, SYNACASS-CI members carried out a lengthy strike to get improvements in their working conditions. The union was also placed under the control of a government administrator for a while following a complaint by a group of doctors opposed to a property transaction carried out by the union. The internal crisis led to divisions in the union, with the dissidents enjoying the support of the Ministry of the Interior.

Health sector unions are not the only ones to suffer interference by the authorities and political parties. In the education sector, the National Union of Secondary Education Teachers (SYNESCI) faced similar problems, when two organisations claimed to exist, under the same name. At the end of the year the two tendencies seemed to be on the path to reunification, however.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,ITUC,,CIV,,4c52caf5c,0.html