"In accordance with the Joint
Declaration of the Government of the People's Republic of China and the
Government of the Republic of Portugal on the Question of Macao (hereinafter
referred to as the Joint Declaration), the Government of the People's Republic
of China will resume the exercise of sovereignty over Macao with effect from 20
December 1999. Macao will, from that date, become a Special Administrative
Region of the People's Republic of China and will enjoy a high degree of autonomy,
except in foreign and defence affairs which are the responsibilities of the
Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China.
It is provided both in section VIII of
Elaboration by the Government of the People's Republic of China of its Basic
Policies Regarding Macao, which is Annex I to the Joint Declaration, and
Article 138 of the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region of the
People's Republic of China, which was adopted on 31 March 1993 by the National
People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, that international
agreements to which the People's Republic of China is not yet a party but which
are implemented in Macao may continue to be implemented in the Macao Special
Administrative Region.
In accordance with the above provisions, I
am instructed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of
China to inform Your Excellency of the following:
Convention concerning the Application of
the Principles of the Right to Organize and to Bargain Collectively (No. 98),
adopted at Geneva on 1 July 1949 (hereinafter referred to as the
"Convention"), which applies to Macao at present, will continue to
apply to the Macao Special Administrative Region with effect from 20 December
1999.
Within the above ambit, the Government of
the People's Republic of China will assume the responsibility for the
international rights and obligations that place on a Party to the Convention."
Convention concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively
(ILO No. 98)
(Adopted at Geneva on 1 July
1949)
The General
Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been
convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its Thirty-second Session on 8 June 1949, and
Having decided upon
the adoption of certain proposals concerning the application of the principles
of the right to organise and to bargain collectively, which is the fourth item
on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined
that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this first
day of July of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining
Convention, 1949:
Article 1
1. Workers shall
enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination in respect
of their employment.
2. Such protection
shall apply more particularly in respect of acts calculated to--
(a) make the
employment of a worker subject to the condition that he shall not join a union
or shall relinquish trade union membership;
(b) cause the
dismissal of or otherwise prejudice a worker by reason of union membership or
because of participation in union activities outside working hours or, with the
consent of the employer, within working hours.
Article 2
1. Workers' and
employers' organisations shall enjoy adequate protection against any acts of
interference by each other or each other's agents or members in their establishment,
functioning or administration.
2. In particular,
acts which are designed to promote the establishment of workers' organisations
under the domination of employers or employers' organisations, or to support
workers' organisations by financial or other means, with the object of placing
such organisations under the control of employers or employers' organisations,
shall be deemed to constitute acts of interference within the meaning of this
Article.
Article 3
Machinery
appropriate to national conditions shall be established, where necessary, for
the purpose of ensuring respect for the right to organise as defined in the
preceding Articles.
Article 4
Measures
appropriate to national conditions shall be taken, where necessary, to
encourage and promote the full development and utilisation of machinery for
voluntary negotiation between employers or employers' organisations and
workers' organisations, with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions
of employment by means of collective agreements.
Article 5
1. The extent to
which the guarantees provided for in this Convention shall apply to the armed
forces and the police shall be determined by national laws or regulations.
2. In accordance
with the principle set forth in paragraph 8 of Article 19 of the Constitution
of the International Labour Organisation the ratification of this Convention by
any Member shall not be deemed to affect any existing law, award, custom or
agreement in virtue of which members of the armed forces or the police enjoy
any right guaranteed by this Convention.
Article 6
This Convention
does not deal with the position of public servants engaged in the
administration of the State, nor shall it be construed as prejudicing their
rights or status in any way.
Article 7
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 8
1. This Convention
shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with the
Director-General.
2. It shall come
into force twelve months after the date on which the ratifications of two
Members have been registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this
Convention shall come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on
which its ratification has been registered.
Article 9
1. Declarations
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office in
accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 35 of the Constitution of the
International Labour Organisation shall indicate --
a) the territories
in respect of which the Member concerned undertakes that the provisions of the
Convention shall be applied without modification;
b) the territories
in respect of which it undertakes that the provisions of the Convention shall
be applied subject to modifications, together with details of the said
modifications;
c) the territories
in respect of which the Convention is inapplicable and in such cases the
grounds on which it is inapplicable;
d) the territories
in respect of which it reserves its decision pending further consideration of
the position.
2. The undertakings
referred to in subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 of this Article shall
be deemed to be an integral part of the ratification and shall have the force
of ratification.
3. Any Member may
at any time by a subsequent declaration cancel in whole or in part any
reservation made in its original declaration in virtue of subparagraph (b), (c)
or (d) of paragraph 1 of this Article.
4. Any Member may,
at any time at which the Convention is subject to denunciation in accordance
with the provisions of Article 11, communicate to the Director-General a
declaration modifying in any other respect the terms of any former declaration
and stating the present position in respect of such territories as it may
specify.
Article 10
1. Declarations
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office in
accordance with paragraph 4 or 5 of Article 35 of the Constitution of the
International Labour Organisation shall indicate whether the provisions of the
Convention will be applied in the territory concerned without modification or
subject to modifications; when the declaration indicates that the provisions of
the Convention will be applied subject to modifications, it shall give details
of the said modifications.
2. The Member,
Members or international authority concerned may at any time by a subsequent
declaration renounce in whole or in part the right to have recourse to any
modification indicated in any former declaration.
3. The Member,
Members or international authority concerned may, at any time at which this
Convention is subject to denunciation in accordance with the provisions of
Article 11, communicate to the Director-General a declaration modifying in any
other respect the terms of any former declaration and stating the present
position in respect of the application of the Convention.
Article 11
1. A Member which
has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years
from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the
date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member
which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year
following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article,
will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce
this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms
provided for in this Article.
Article 12
1. The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of
the International Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications,
declarations and denunciations communicated to him by the Members of the
Organisation.
2. When notifying
the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification
communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the
Members of the Organisation to the date upon which the Convention will come
into force.
Article 13
The Director-General
of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General
of the United Nations for registration in accordance with Article 102 of the
Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all ratifications,
declarations and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the
provisions of the preceding articles.
Article 14
At such times as it
may consider necessary the Governing Body of the International Labour Office
shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this
Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the
Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article 15
1. Should the
Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part,
then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides,
a) the ratification
by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the
immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions of
Article 11 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come into
force;
b) as from the date
when the new revising Convention comes into force, this Convention shall cease
to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention
shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those
Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 16
The English and
French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.