Burundi - 2011

Population: 8,300,000
Capital: Bujumbura
Violations of fundamental human rights and in particular violations of trade union rights multiplied throughout the year. The two main trade union centres condemned attempts to destroy the trade union movement by the creation of yellow trade unions. There was widespread government interference, particularly in the education sector where institutions harassed and threatened teachers to become members of these new organisations. Trade union activities in the public sector are strictly regulated.

reported violations - 2011

Murders: none reported
Attempted Murders: none reported
Threats: none reported
Injuries: none reported
Arrests: none reported
Imprisonments: none reported
Dismissals: none reported
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Background

In June, Pierre Nkurunziza, the incumbent President was re-elected for a second term following elections which were boycotted by the opposition parties. Human rights’ violations escalated throughout the year.

Trade union rights in law

Despite basic trade union rights being recognised in the Constitution and the Labour Code, numerous excessive restrictions apply. All unions must have at least 50 members, and all union representatives must have worked in the sector for at least one year. Freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
in the public sector is regulated by Law No. 1/015 of 29 November 2002, which stipulates that for civil servants’ unions to be recognised, they must be registered with the Civil Service Ministry, which is their employer.

Although the right to collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
is guaranteed in the Labour Code, bargaining on wages is not possible in the public sector as the government sets wages.

Though the Constitution recognises the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
, workers can only go on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
when, and if, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security says it is satisfied that they have exhausted all other means of dispute resolution. This effectively gives the Ministry the power to veto all strikes. Finally, in the public sector, solidarity strikes are prohibited, and the government can requisition requisition To issue back-to-work orders. striking workers.

Violations

Right to strike suspended: On 27 April, the government announced that it was suspending the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
during the election, a decision criticised by the education unions on strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike
since 8 March. A few days earlier, the authorities had put pressure on the teachers to accept difficult economic conditions. The teachers’ claims related to the improvement of their working and living conditions in accordance with an agreement reached with the government on July 2002, which has not been implemented.
Political intimidation and the creation of yellow trade unions in the health and education sectors: The two principal trade union centres, the Confédération des syndicats du Burundi (COSYBU) and the Confédération syndicale du Burundi (CSB) have criticised the authorities’ constant interference in trade union affairs. Trade unions with close ties to the ruling party have been created in the health and education sectors. Workers are harassed by their employers to join the ruling party and these new organisations. Consequently, during a meeting in Rumonge in the Bururi region on 19 December of over 500 teachers organised by the sector’s five main trade unions, participants explained how they had been victims of intimidation by management, who threatened to transfer them if they did not join these new trade unions supported by the ruling party.
Trade union activist still not reinstated: At the end of 2010, Juvénal Rududura, Vice-President of the Syndicat des personnels non-magistrats du ministère de la Justice (SPMJB), an affiliate of the Confédération des syndicats du Burundi (COSYBU) had still not been reinstated. His criminal record has not been expunged and he has not been given his job back. He was imprisoned for ten months in 2008 and 2009 for criticising anti-union repression and corruption in the recruitment process on television.
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