Country Rating: 4

  • Systematic violation of rights

  • Workers in countries with the rating of 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers, putting fundamental rights under continuous threat.

Single trade union system imposed by law: The only authorised national workers' organisation is the Workers' House, which is an entity set up and backed by the authorities and employers. The 1990 Labour Law stipulates that an Islamic Labour Council (Shoraya Eslami) or a guild society can be established at any workplace, or alternatively a workers' representative can be appointed (Art.131 Labour Law).

Restrictions on workers' right to join the trade union of their choosing imposed by law: The Islamic Labour Councils are formed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs pursuant to Article 15 of the law for the Formation of Islamic Labour Councils (1985) which states that the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is obliged to form the Islamic Labour Councils in units which have more than 35 permanent employees. Also, Article 1 of the By-Laws of the Islamic Labour Council's Election (1985) explicitly makes reference to the Islamic Labour Councils formed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

Categories of workers prohibited or limited from forming or joining a union: Workers in export processing zones are excluded from rights guaranteed under the Labour Law. Art. 5 Law of the Administration of Commercial and Industrial Free Zones stipulates that export processing zones "do not come under the jurisdiction of laws and regulations applying to government companies, nor that of government regulations, and they shall strictly and exclusively abide by the rules of this specific law and its articles, and shall administer their organisation accordingly."

In the agricultural sector, activities related to growing and management of fruit trees, various plants, forests, pastures, parks, animal husbandry, raising and breeding of poultry and birds, the silkworm industry, breeding marine animals, beekeeping, cultivation, growing and harvesting and other agricultural activities are exempted from parts of this Code, at the proposal of the Supreme Labour Council, and subject to the approval of the Council of Ministers (Art.189 Labour Law, 1990).

Workers are defined as persons who work "in a capacity at the request of an employer in return for remuneration" (Art.2 Labour Law, 1990). This definition excludes informal workers from rights guaranteed in the Labour Law. Enterprises with less than ten workers may also be excluded "small-scale enterprises with fewer than ten workers may, as circumstances require, be temporarily excluded from some of the provisions of this Code. Determination as to such exceptional cases shall be in conformity with regulations to be proposed by the Supreme Labour Council and approved by the Council of Ministers." Workers employed in "family workplaces where work is performed exclusively by the employer, his wife and his blood relatives in the first degrees are not" protected by the Labour Law (Art. 188).

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