The head of the Kyrgyz Republic, guided by Articles 70 and 87 of the Constitution, returned the bill on trade unions, adopted by the deputies on March 31, 2021, to the Parliament with his objections. The Chairman of the Central Committee of the Mining and Metallurgical Trade Union, Eldar Tadzhibaev, reported.
According to him, the deputies have to finalize the bill and prepare an agreed version. At the same time, representatives of the Cabinet of Ministers, the trade unions themselves and associations of employers should be included in the composition of the conciliation commission.
The document was adopted by the deputies without discussion, without taking into account the opinion of the government, trade unions, international organizations. The bill deprived workers of the right to freedom of association and flagrantly violated Convention No. 87 of the International Labor Organization on freedom of association and protection of the right to associations and on application of the principles of the right to trade unionization and collective bargaining.
«The bill establishes a strict framework and conditions for activities of representative bodies of workers, which is unacceptable. Its adoption could have an impact on participation of Kyrgyzstan in the GSP + program, which gives the right to duty-free trade with the EU countries. The Government gave a negative opinion on the bill, many comments were not taken into account. Objections of the International Labor Organization, international trade union associations, non-governmental organizations and others were sent to the country’s leadership. About 70,000 signatures of citizens against this bill have been collected and sent to the Presidential Executive Office,» Eldar Tadzhibaev said.
