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Bhutan - Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

Indicators

The following indicators should be considered when conducting assessments of compliance (click on links for details):

Legal Framework

• ILO 87 - Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (A-1)
• ILO 98 - Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (A-9)
• Rights of workers or employers to establish and join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization (A-2)
• Restrictions on the ability of certain categories of workers to organize (and numbers of workers in each category) (A-3)
• Certain sectors where there is no right to organize (A-4)
• Forms of distinction or discrimination in the right to organize (A-5)
• Provisions that permit the government to interfere in freedom of association by workers or employers (A-6)
• Restrictions on political activities of unions or employers’ organizations (A-7)
• Protection of workers from discrimination if they join a union or participate in union activities (A-8)
• Protection of collective bargaining (A-10)
• Restrictions on the mechanism of collective bargaining (A-11)
• Categories of workers not permitted to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement (and numbers of workers in each category) (A-12)
• Certain sectors where there is no right to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement (A-13)
• Recognition of the principle of a strike as a means of action of organizations (A-14)
• Government restrictions on certain kinds of strikes (A-15)
• Government limitations on picketing or occupation of the workplace (A-16)
• Bans on employer lookouts (A-17)
• Workers’ ability to ratify or reject agreements reached by union leaders (A-18)
• Employers’ ability to dismiss striking workers or the hiring of permanent strike replacement workers (A-19)
• Requirements that workers join a given trade union as a condition of employment or that new workers be hired through a given trade union (A-20)
• Workers’ and employers’ organizations ability to affiliate with international bodies (A-21)

Government Performance

• Retaliation on union organizers and strikers (B-1, B-2)
• Government complaint process (B-3)
• Government interference in freedom of association (B-4)
• Independence of trade unions (B-5, B-6)
• Government actions to combat labor-related corruption (B-7)
• Labor Regulation Departments (B-8)
• Government supported worker education efforts (B-9)
• Government supported capacity-building efforts for government labor officials (B-10)
• Government actions to promote and disseminate best practices in labor-management cooperation (B-11)
• Government actions to hinder or facilitate labor-advocate NGOs and independent labor inspection (B-12)
• Government actions to enable utilization of domestic and international channels for violations and problems (B-13)

Overall Outcomes

• Union density (C-1)
• Frequency, length and person-days of legal strikes (C-2)
• Percentage of workers covered by collective bargaining agreements (C-3)
• Incidents of discrimination against union organizers, unions, or employer organizations (C-4)

Sources

International Sources

United Nations

Includes State Party Reports and the Conclusions and Observations of UN Committees relating to the CCPR, CEDAW, CERD, CESCR, CMW, CRC.

• Treaty Body Database
• Committee Assessment of Source

National Sources

Department of Labor, Bhutan

Potentially useful information available in English

• Department of Labor, Bhutan, website
• Committee Assessment of Source

Ministry of Agriculture, Bhutan

Potentially useful information available in English

• Ministry of Agriculture, Bhutan, website
• Committee Assessment of Source

Ministry of Education, Bhutan

Potentially useful information available in English

• Ministry of Education, Bhutan, website
• Committee Assessment of Source

Ministry of Finance, Bhutan

Potentially useful information available in English

• Ministry of Finance, Bhutan, website
• Committee Assessment of Source

Ministry of Labour and Human Development, Bhutan

Potentially useful information available in English

• Ministry of Labour and Human Development, Bhutan, website
• Committee Assessment of Source

Ministry of Trade and Industries, Bhutan

Potentially useful information available in English

• Ministry of Trade and Industries, Bhutan, website
• Committee Assessment of Source

U.S. Government Sources

U.S. State Department

Section 6A covers "The Right of Association" and Section 6B covers "The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

• Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
• Committee Assessment of Source

Nongovernmental Organizations

Lawyers Committee for Human Rights

This database contains approximately 2,500 units of measurement on workers rights, extracted from approximately 100 public and confidential source documents including guidelines and questionnaires used by monitoring organizations, multinational corporations, and trade associations; public reports by governmental bodies and non-government organizations; public corporate reports; and others. Database provides indicators and source lists, but no specific data.

• Measurement Units for Workers Rights (MUWR), on-line database service
• Committee Assessment of Source

Social Accountability International

SA8000, a voluntary workplace standard patterned on those of the International Organization of Standardization was created in 1997 by the Council on Economic Priorities (a U.S. NGO), and is administered by another NGO, Social Accountability International (SAI).

• SA800
• Committee Assessment of Source

Solidar

Updates include news snippets on trade and labor standards, with special attention to the role of the European Union in the WTO

• International Updates
• Committee Assessment of Source