Ethiopia

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of workers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish organizations. Teachers. In its previous comments, the Committee, encouraged by the Government’s commitment in the Joint Statement to register the NTA, firmly expected that it would be promptly and unconditionally registered. The Committee notes with regret that the Government merely reiterates in its report the information that it had previously provided on this matter to this Committee and to the Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) in Case No. 2516. The Committee notes that the EI in its observations states that the Ethiopian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has yet to respond to the requests of the NTA to be recognized as a trade union and that the NTA should be registered under the Civil Society Organizations Proclamation No. 1113/2019, which replaced the Charities and Societies Proclamation No. 621/2009. Recalling that the right to official recognition through legal registration is an essential facet of the right to organize, as the first step that workers’ or employers’ organizations must take in order to be able to function efficiently and represent their members adequately, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the immediate registration of the NTA, so that teachers may fully exercise their right to form organizations of their own choosing for furthering and defending teachers’ occupational interests. The Committee urges the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard.
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Civil servants and employees of the state administration. In its previous comments, the Committee, in view of the ongoing comprehensive civil service reform, firmly expected that the right to organize would be granted to all civil servants, including teachers in public schools and employees of the state administration, including care workers, judges, prosecutors, and managerial workers. The Committee notes that the Government reaffirms its readiness to address the matter and that, in full consultations with social partners, it will take all the necessary measures to grant civil servants and employees of the state administration the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing. Noting the absence of concrete information concerning the civil service reform in the Government’s report, the Committee reiterates its previous request and asks the Government to provide information on any developments in this regard.
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Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019. For several years, the Committee expressed its concern over multiple provisions of the Labour Proclamation No. 377/2003. The Committee notes that it has been replaced by the Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019, which still raises the following issues of compatibility with the Convention:
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– Essential services. The Committee had previously requested the Government to delete air transport and urban bus services from the list of essential services, previously established on section 136(2)(d) of the Labour Proclamation No. 377/2003. While the Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that it held a tripartite consultation to minimize the list of undertakings and that, accordingly, the urban bus services have been excluded from the list, it observes that under section 137(2)(d) of the newly adopted Labour Proclamation the list of essential services in which strike action is prohibited includes urban light rail transport services. The Committee recalls that these services do not constitute essential services in the strict sense of the term that is services, the interruption of which may endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures so that the abovementioned transport services are deleted from the list of essential services in section 137(2)(d) of the Labour Proclamation, and recalls that it may give consideration instead to the establishment of a system of minimum service in these services of public utility. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged in this respect.