Eritrea - 2011

Background

Eritrea remains a one party state and the only country in Africa to have no privately owned news media. The economy is mainly dependent on loans and remittances from the diaspora. Peace with Ethiopia remains fragile. Peace was threatened internally when in May rebel groups said they were operating jointly to topple the government.
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)
Population: 5,000,000
Capital: Asmara

reported violations- 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Trade union rights in law

Labour law is governed by Labour Proclamation No 118, which gives workers the right to form unions. Unions are not allowed in the armed forces, the police and in essential services essential services Services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. Can include the hospital sector, electricity and water supply services, and air traffic control. Strikes can be restricted or even prohibited in essential services.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
 . In addition, civil servants not involved in state administration do not have the right to organise until the draft Civil Service Proclamation is passed. Furthermore, the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare must grant special approval for groups of 20 or more workers seeking to form a union. 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
and strikes are allowed and industrial disputes are resolved by a tripartite board composed of workers, employers and Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare officials.
Additional information regarding the legislation
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)
Population: 5,000,000
Capital: Asmara

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

In practice

No freedom of association, no collective bargaining: There is no 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 country and no political organisations, other than the ruling People’s Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), are permitted. All unions - including the National Confederation of Eritrean Workers (NCEW) and its affiliates - are kept under close scrutiny by the totalitarian government. There is no free 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
.
Forced labour: By law, all able-bodied adult Eritreans must perform 18 months of national service. In practice, national service is routinely prolonged indefinitely. National service conscripts, about 300,000 at any given moment, are badly paid and are made to work on government projects, principally agriculture and construction. They are also used as cheap, involuntary labour on projects that personally benefit civilian and military leaders. Another use for these workers is in the gold mines, often run by western companies who sub-contract much of the work – construction, food products, transportation, banking, even some drilling – to local companies, which inevitably means government-owned companies. The overwhelming majority of those “employed” by government companies are the national service conscripts, forced to work for a salary of ERN 500 (USD 12) per month.
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)
Population: 5,000,000
Capital: Asmara

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
© ITUC-CSI-IGB 2010 | www.ituc-csi.org | Contact Design by Pixeleyes.be