Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
Bolivia - 2012
Population: 9,930,000
Capital: Sucre
Capital: Sucre
The lack of consultation and agreement over political reforms led to heightened political tensions in 2011. The Plurinational State of Bolivia has not resolved the issue of trade union and workers’ rights violations. Indigenous communities and trade unions staged strikes and protests throughout the year to demand respect for their rights.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
reported violations - 2012
Background
Indigenous communities and trade unions staged a succession of strikes and protests throughout 2011 to demand respect for their rights. In May, the Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) called a 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
in protest at the wage and pension reforms. Hard-fought for rights, such as reduced working hours in the health sector, were still being violated. Discrimination and abuses at work also persisted. Despite the process of change undertaken to improve living standards, workers are still faced with increasingly precarious employment.
In December, President Evo Morales cancelled plans to remove fuel subsidies following massive protests over the drastic rise in prices.
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Bolivia registered progress in the efforts to build a more equal society, especially in terms of life expectancy and education indicators, and extreme poverty reduction, which has fallen over the last ten years from 62.4% to 54%, whilst indigence has fallen from 37% to 31.2%. Extreme inequalities nonetheless remain, with a GINI coefficient of 0.565, placing it fifth in the ranking of countries with the highest inequalities in the region.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 9,930,000
Capital: Sucre
Capital: Sucre
reported violations- 2012
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
Trade union rights in law
The 2009 Constitution improves the protection of trade union rights, however many excessive restrictions remain in the law. While workers enjoy 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
, the General Labour Act, dating back to 1942, requires prior government authorisation to establish a union and permits only one union per enterprise. Industrial unions need the support of at least 50% of the workforce in order to be established, and no union may join an international organisation.
Public servants, with some exceptions, are denied the right to organise and to bargain collectively, which is also the case for some categories of agricultural workers. Furthermore, there are restrictions on union internal affairs, as members of the executive boards must be Bolivian by birth, and labour inspectors can attend union meetings and monitor union activities. A trade union can also be dissolved by administrative means.
While 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
is guaranteed in the Constitution, all strikes must be supported by three quarters of the workers. Strikes in public services, including banks and public markets, are banned by law, as are general strikes and solidarity strikes. Compulsory arbitration
arbitration
A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.
See conciliation, mediation
may also be imposed to end a 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
or collective dispute
collective dispute
See industrial dispute
in sectors that are not considered essential by the ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights
. Finally, workers who participate in an unlawful 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
may be sentenced to prison terms of one to five years, with forced labour as an additional punishment.
Freedom of association / Right to organize
Principles
Freedom of association :
- >The right to freedom of association is enshrined in the Constitution.
- >The right to freedom of association is enshrined in the Constitution but strictly regulated.
The new Constitution, approved by referendum in January 2009, extends the right to organise and to collective bargaining, ensuring greater protection for trade unions and trade union leaders. It also recognises the right of rural workers and self-employed workers to strike and to form and join unions.
Anti-Union discrimination:
- >The law prohibits anti-union discrimination, but does not provide adequate means of protection against it.
The fines set by law are not sufficiently dissuasive for preventing potential acts of anti-union discrimination or interference in trade union internal affairs.
Restrictions
Legal barriers to the establishment of organizations:
- >Prior authorisation or approval by authorities required for the establishment of a union
- The labour law requires prior government authorisation to establish a union.
- >Excessive representativity or minimum number of members required for the establishment of a union
- Industrial unions need the support of at least 50% of the workforce in order to be established.
Restrictions on workers' right to form and join organizations of their own choosing:
- >Single trade union system imposed by law and/or a system banning or limiting organising at a certain level (enterprise, industry and/or sector, regional and/or territorial, national)
- The law permits only one union per enterprise.
- >Restrictions on trade unions' right to establish branches, federation and confederation or to affiliate with national and international organisations
- The law does not allow trade unions to join international organisations.
Restrictions on trade unions' right to organize their administration:
- >Restrictions on the right to elect representatives and self-administer in full freedom
- Members of trade union executive boards must be Bolivian by birth and must work for the same company as the workers they represent.
- >Administrative authorities' power to unilaterally dissolve, suspend or de-register trade union organisations
- Labour law allows for trade union organisations to be dissolved by administrative means.
- >Other external interference allowed by law
- The law provides for labour inspectors to attend union meetings and monitor union activities.
Categories of workers prohibited or limited in law from forming or joining a union, or from holding a union office:
- >Other civil servants and public employees
- The law denies public servants the right to organise, with the exception of health, education and oil industry workers.
- >Agricultural workers
- Some categories of agricultural workers are denied the right to organise, as they are excluded from the scope of the law.
Right to collective bargaining
Principles
Right to collective bargaining:
- >The right to collective bargaining is enshrined in the Constitution.
- >The right to collective bargaining is recognised by law.
The new Constitution, approved by referendum in January 2009, extends the right to organise and to collective bargaining, ensuring greater protection for trade unions and trade union leaders. It also recognises the right of rural workers and self-employed workers to strike and to form and join unions.
Restrictions
Limitations or ban on collective bargaining in certain sectors:
- >Other civil servants and public employees
- Public sector workers not employed in the administration of the State and agricultural workers are amongst those who are still denied the right to bargain collectively.
Right to strike
Principles
Right to strike:
- >The right to strike is enshrined in the Constitution.
- >The right to strike is recognised by law but strictly regulated.
The new Constitution, approved by referendum in January 2009, extends the right to organise and to collective bargaining, ensuring greater protection for trade unions and trade union leaders. It also recognises the right of rural workers and self-employed workers to strike and to form and join unions.
Restrictions
Legal barriers to lawful strike actions:
- >Obligation to observe an excessive quorum or to obtain an excessive majority in a ballot to call a strike
- In order for a strike to be legal it must be supported by three quarters of the workers.
Ban or limitations on certain types of strike actions:
- >Restrictions with respect to the objective of a strike (e.g. industrial disputes, economic and social issues, political, sympathy and solidarity reasons)
- General strikes and solidarity strikes are totally prohibited.
Undue interference by authorities or employers during the course of a strike:
- >Authorities' or employers' power to prevent or end a strike by referring the dispute to arbitration
- Compulsory arbitration may be imposed in order to put an end to a strike or a collective dispute in sectors that are not considered essential by the ILO..
Provisions undermining the recourse to strike actions or their effectiveness:
- >Excessive civil or penal sanctions for workers and unions involved in non-authorised strike actions
- Where a strike is declared illegal, those who took part in it may be sentenced to prison terms of one to five years, with forced labour as an additional punishment.
Limitations or ban on strikes in certain sectors:
- >Undue restrictions for "public servants"
- Strikes in public services, including banks and public markets, are banned by law.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 9,930,000
Capital: Sucre
Capital: Sucre
reported violations - 2012
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
In practice
Government agrees to COB’s demands, but slow to implement agreement:
On 2 March, following strong protests and demonstrations by Bolivia’s unions, President Evo Morales unilaterally ordered a 10% pay increase for public employees in the education and health sectors, the police and armed forces, and a 20% increase in the minimum wage. The unions were demanding a 15% increase in the public sector. The Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) tried to negotiate with the government, but the workers finally rejected the agreement on a 10% increase. Strikes and protests were resumed. After several long hard days in La Paz, an additional 1% was secured, plus another 1% after July, subject to the availability of sufficient budget funds, hence 2% in total, bringing the rise up to 12%.
On 19 April, the COB signed an eight-point agreement with the government and called an end to the general 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
. The document established a pay increase of 11%, and the possibility of raising it to 12% for education and health workers, after indentifying a source of financing that would not lead to a fiscal deficit.
Agreement was also reached on stimulating production, the National Health Fund (CNS), full implementation of trade union immunity provisions, respect for the agreement signed in Panduro in April 2010, measures to guarantee food security and the revision of laws 2027 and 2028 on municipal and public employees, to bring them into line with the new Political Constitution of the State.
The Central Obrera Boliviana (COB) called for protest marches on 6 October to press for the implementation of the agreement signed between the trade union centre trade union centre A central organisation at the national, regional or district level consisting of affiliated trade unions. Often denotes a national federation or confederation. and the government in April, to provide the workers with the pay rise promised. At the end of 2011, following the COB’s announcement of plans to hold new protests, the government applied the additional 2% rise agreed on.
Protest in support of indigenous peoples’ rights brutally repressed: Indigenous peoples’ rights, especially the right to consultation, enshrined in ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights Convention 169, were constantly violated. Indigenous peoples conducted a march from Beni to La Paz, between August and October, which was violently dispersed by police. The government passed legislation to resolve the issue, declaring that the indigenous land at the root of the dispute, through which there were plans to build a trans-oceanic highway (Brazil-Chile) was “intangible” (thus protected from outside development). President Morales publically condemned the police’s abusive and violent handling of the protest.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights Convention 169, were constantly violated. Indigenous peoples conducted a march from Beni to La Paz, between August and October, which was violently dispersed by police. The government passed legislation to resolve the issue, declaring that the indigenous land at the root of the dispute, through which there were plans to build a trans-oceanic highway (Brazil-Chile) was “intangible” (thus protected from outside development). President Morales publically condemned the police’s abusive and violent handling of the protest.
Child labour in Bolivia: According to Labour Ministry figures released in June 2011, 850,000 children below the minimum age for admission to employment were involved in economic activities in Bolivia. Out of this total, 354,000 were living in urban areas and 446,000 in rural areas. Most of the children and teenagers in urban areas (41.8%) work as vendors, and the percentage of girls (54.4%) was higher than that of boys (31%). The government has implemented numerous programmes in conjunction with UNICEF and the ILO
International Labour Organization
A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights .
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights .
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 9,930,000
Capital: Sucre
Capital: Sucre
reported violations - 2012
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
Violations
Negotiating difficulties at San Cristóbal mine, controlled by Sumitomo: Workers at the San Cristóbal silver, zinc and lead mines, owned by the Japanese trading company Sumitomo Corporation, downed tools on 23 March 2011 for 12 days in support of demands for better health care benefits. The 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 was called off at the end of this period, following the Labour Ministry’s intervention, but some of the demands have still not been met.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike was called off at the end of this period, following the Labour Ministry’s intervention, but some of the demands have still not been met.
Refusal to negotiate at PIL dairy company: On 30 March 2011, workers affiliated to the national union of PIL workers SINTRAPIL, employed at the PIL Andina dairy factory, staged a protest march from El Alto, Bolivia, to the Arequipa region in Peru, to the head office of Gloria, the company that owns PIL, to demand respect for their rights and better working conditions, which the firm has being refusing to negotiate since 2010. The workers are demanding that the company recognise their union.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 9,930,000
Capital: Sucre
Capital: Sucre
reported violations - 2012
Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher