2010 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Gabon

Population: 1,500,000
Capital: Libreville
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 182

The trade unions denounced several unfair measures aimed at undermining the right to strike and the exercise of trade union rights. Lengthy strikes paralysed the public sector.

Trade union rights in law

Freedom of association and the right to strike are guaranteed in the Constitution. However, the provisions in the Labour Code are somewhat lacking, although public servants have the right to organise. Anti-union discrimination is not expressly prohibited in law, but the courts can award compensation to employees who have been victims of such discrimination.

The authorities are not permitted to interfere in lawful strikes, which must be preceded by arbitration. Although workers in the public sector have the right to call a strike, it can be restricted if deemed to pose a threat to public safety.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2009

Background: President Omar Bongo died on 11 May after 40 years in power. At the beginning of September his son Ali Ben Bongo was declared the winner of the presidential election. The opposition challenged the hasty holding of the election whose timing was bound to favour the former President’s camp. The new strong man promised to introduce social reform to curb persistent poverty in a country that has benefited from oil earnings for a long time.

Serious restrictions on freedom of association: On 19 October at his first council of ministers meeting, new President Ali Bongo Ondimba asked for the “strict application” of the law on trade union rights. He restricted the right to strike, by insisting that strike days would no longer be paid. According to the law, however, pay should not be docked when the strike is linked to demands for pay arrears, as was the case for the lengthy strikes that took place during the year. Furthermore, trade union leaders can no longer combine their role in running their unions with a post as a servant of the State. A representative of the National Convention of Education Unions (CONASYSED) stated that this amounts to an attack on freedom of association insofar as in his own sector, for example, most members of the union executive work in education full-time and their union activities are inevitably ad hoc.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4c4fec7bc.html

2009 Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights – Gabon

Population: 1,400,000
Capital: Libreville
ILO Core Conventions Ratified: 29 – 87 – 98 – 100 – 105 – 111 – 182

There were cases of anti-union discrimination and police violence against strikers at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Trade union rights in law

Right to join trade unions: All workers have the right freely to form and become members of the trade union of their choice. Trade unions must be registered to obtain official recognition.

Right to strike – limitations: Workers in the public sector can join a trade union and have the right to strike, however that right is restricted where it poses a threat to public safety.

A strike may only be started following eight days’ advance notice and after arbitration has failed. The Labour Code prohibits the government from intervening directly against strikers who adhere to the arbitration and notification procedures.

Discrimination against trade unions: The law does not expressly prohibit discrimination against trade unions. However, the courts can order employers that are found guilty of discrimination to compensate the employees concerned.

Trade union rights in practice and violations in 2008

Background: Though more stable and richer, thanks to oil revenues, that most other countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Gabon is not managing to reduce the vast gulf in incomes between the minority of the population that is benefiting more and more from the mining of the country’s natural resources and the poor majority whose purchasing power fell considerably in 2007. Omar Bongo’s regime tolerates freedom of expression except against itself. In January, around twenty civil society associations were suspended for a few days and, at the end of December, several of their activists were arrested.

Widespread anti-union harassment: Trade unionists in both the public and private sectors are often discriminated against. They are regularly harassed or simply dismissed. Many members of the Gabonese Confederation of Trade Unions (CGSL) have been victims in recent years of arbitrary arrests and even of imprisonment on trumped-up charges. The government also ignores the elected leadership of the CGSL, appointing workers’ representatives of its own choosing to tripartite bodies.

Trade unionists beaten up by the police: Many strikes took place in the public services and also in the private sector, particularly the oil industry. On May Day, civil servants at the Ministry of Agriculture, who had been on strike since 4 April, were beaten up by the police. Jean René Mombo Nzamba, President of the National Agriculture Union, explained that the police had used a false rumour, namely that the Minister had been illegally detained, as an excuse for charging the strikers, several of whom had to be hospitalised. A few days earlier, peaceful marches against the high cost of living had also been brutally repressed.

source: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4c52caedc.html