Within the framework of the 113th International Labor Conference (ILC), which is being held in Geneva, Switzerland, the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of State Workers (CLATE), Public Services International (PSI) and the Latin American Association of Labor Lawyers (ALAL) presented two research papers on ILO Convention 151.

In the presence of numerous international delegations of public sector unions and before a packed room, CLATE, ALAL and PSI presented on Thursday, June 5, at the Central Building of the International Labor Organization in Geneva, two reports on the application of Convention 151.

The panel of speakers was composed of: Julio Fuentes, president of CLATE; Federico Dávila, PSI 1st vice-president; Matías Cremonte, president of ALAL; Daniel Bertossa, PSI general secretary; Marcelo Distéfano, TUCA secretary of Trade Union Strengthening and Organization; Danna Vargas, leader of UTRADEC-CGT of Colombia and CLATE; Carmen Espinoza, ALAL regional vice-president; Maia Volkovinsky, leader of UEJN and CGT of Argentina.

In making a balance of the activity, the president of CLATE, Julio Fuentes, described the presentation as "highly positive" and recalled that in 2028 it will be fifty years since ILO Convention 151 on labor relations in the public administration was sanctioned.

"This work evaluates the different types of progress that have been made in each of our countries. In some, only ratification was achieved. In others, we have reached the implementation and have collective bargaining agreements," explained the leader.

And he added: "These investigations are the history of the struggles of the public sector unions in the continent. And we reaffirm and make our own the ILO slogan 'Collective bargaining in the public sector, a path to follow'. This path must be followed and it is a path of struggle, of organization, of unity of public sector workers to achieve our fundamental right, which is the right to collective bargaining".

For his part, Federico Dávila, PSI 1st Vice-President, affirmed: "I leave very satisfied and proud of what we union leaders can do, of how to generate power and unity to be able to modify this reality which does not satisfy us, which makes us uncomfortable, and we are making every effort to change it and to be able to defend the rights of the working class which are being brutally attacked".

"Public service workers are the ones whose right to collective bargaining is the most restricted in the world of work," recalled PSI general secretary Daniel Bertossa.

In turn, the president of ALAL, Matías Cremonte, said: "At last year's Conference we had brought a report in progress and we proposed to finish it and present it at this Conference, so the fact that we have achieved that goal is really very gratifying".

"We are very pleased with the result of the report, with all the work that has been done and that has been accumulated in this study on the validity of Convention 151 in Latin America and the Caribbean," he said.

In her speech, Danna Vargas, representative of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and of the National Union of State and Public Service Workers of Colombia (UTRADEC), a member of CLATE, referred to the progress made in collective bargaining in Colombia.

Carmen Espinoza, labor lawyer from Chile and regional vice-president of ALAL, made a presentation on the progress achieved by Chilean trade union organizations, despite the constitutional prohibition of the right to collective bargaining in that country.

Maia Volkovinsky, Deputy Secretary of the Argentine Union of Judicial Employees of the Nation (UEJN), referred to the struggle carried out by judicial workers for collective bargaining, a right denied by the Judiciary of that country.

draft program

13:00 h - Presentation of the research "Libertad Sindical y Negociación Colectiva en el Sector Público: Un Diagnóstico Regional", and of the book that compiles it, carried out by the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero, Argentina, as part of the PSI activities within the framework of the Consortium for Trade Union Freedom in the Americas with the participation of TUCA, SC AFL-CIO, BWI and ITF.

• Federico Dávila, PSI World Vice-President and President of PSI Inter-America.

13:15 h - Presentation of the Studies conducted by CLATE on Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector in the Americas.

• Julio Fuentes, President of CLATE.

13:30 h - Interventions

• PSI, Daniel Bertossa, General Secretary.

• TUCA, Rafael Freire, General Secretary

• ALAL, Matias Cremonte, President

• TUCA, Marcelo Di Stefano, Coordinator of the Legal-Trade Union Team.

14:00 h - End of the activity.