ILO Takes Congisance Of The Complaint Lodged By AITUC Against EDSO-2021

The International Labour Standards Department of the ILO has taken cognizance of the complaint lodged by Amrajeet kaur General Secretary/AITUC against the Essential Defence Services Ordinance 2021 promulgated by the President of India on 30 th of June 2021. In a letter addressed to AITUC Karen Curtis the Chief of Freedom of Association Branch International Labour Standards Department have informed that the complaint filed by AITUC against EDSO-2021 has been registered as Case No.3411. ILO has further informed that the complaint will be forward to Government of India for its observation and comments. www.indiapsu.com accessed a copy of the ILO letter dtd. 30/07/2021 addressed to General Secretary AITUC, the contents are given below for benefit of our viewers.

Subject: Presentation of a complaint before the Committee on Freedom of Association (Case No. 3411)

Dear Sir,

I acknowledge receipt of your communication dated 28 July 2021 containing allegations of infringements of trade union rights in India (Case No. 3411).

In accordance with the procedure in force, the text of your communication will be transmitted to the Government for its observations. Your organization is allowed to submit additional information in support of the complaint within one month. Please note that it would also assist the Committee on Freedom of Association if you would include in these observations all the information on any administrative or judicial actions related to the alleged facts as well as on their outcomes. After this, only new evidence is receivable which you would not have been in a position to supply within the one-month period.

I would like to bring to your attention that in its 393rd Report of March 2021, paragraph 17, the Committee on Freedom of Association approved a number of measures concerning the functioning of the procedure provided for the examination of complaints. These measures include arrangements for optional voluntary conciliation at the national level. The use of these new procedures would require the agreement of your organization, as the complainant, in addition to that of your Government. If voluntary conciliation were undertaken, this would result in a temporary suspension, for a maximum period of six months, of the examination of the merits of the complaint. The Office remains at your disposal for any further information that you may find useful in this regard.

The substance of the complaint will be examined by the Governing Body’s Committee on Freedom of Association once the Government’s reply thereto has been forwarded to the Office.

However, the Committee will proceed to examine the substance of the case even if the Government’s observations have not been received after a reasonable period of time.

Your organization will be informed once the Committee has examined your Case. In the meantime, I invite you to consult NORMLEX, an International Labour Standards’ information system, which contains, in particular, information on the consideration of your Case by the Committee
(http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:20060:0::NO:20060::