(Geneva, 21-22 September 1998)

The Solomon Islands has ratified only one of the ILO’s seven conventions on core labour standards, one of the worst rates of ratification in the world. In many areas, further government actions are required in order to respect the commitments to fundamental workers’ rights supported by the Solomon Islands in the Singapore and Geneva WTO Ministerial Declarations and in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted in June 1998.

The national trade union centre in the Solomon Islands is the Solomon Islands Council of Trade Unions. Approximately 22 per cent of the workforce are unionised.

The Solomon Islands has ratified neither ILO Convention No. 87 (1948), the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, nor ILO Convention No. 98 (1949), the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention.

The right to organise trade unions and to bargain collectively is provided in the Trade Disputes Act of 1981. The law protects workers against anti-union activity and has been upheld by court decisions. However, the extent to which the law is enforced in smaller establishments and in the subsistence sector is unclear.

The law permits strikes. In practice, although employees are meant to be protected from arbitrary dismissal or lockout while the Trade Disputes Panel (TDP) is deliberating, strikes are deterred by the fact that employers have easy access to replacement workers if disputes are not resolved quickly.

There is a long-running dispute in the public sector, concerning the government’s refusal to negotiate an agreement with the trade unions over redundancies in the sector. This dispute is at present before the Trade Disputes Panel (TDP).

The timber logging sector has also been hit by a major dispute over the past year. At the end of September 1997, members of the Solomon Islands National Union of Workers (SINUW) went on strike over the refusal of the Malaysian-owned logging company, Earth Movers (Solomons), to re-negotiate their collective agreement. The company obtained a High Court injunction against the strikers and then dismissed them all. The company tried to evict workers from their homes on seven logging camps, and began legal proceedings against the union. The government responded to international trade union pressure co-ordinated through the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IBFWW) by calling the union and the company to conciliation at the Trade Disputes Panel.

On 20 March 1998 the Trades Disputes Panel ruled in favour of the union with an Award which stated that the employer must negotiate with the union on recognition and collective agreements; that the dismissed workers should be reinstated with effect from the date of termination; and that all union members should receive a 10% increase in wages, allowances and incentives with effect from 1st January. This Award was upheld by the High Court on 22 June 1998. Despite this, the company took no steps to enter into proper negotiations with the union and did not reinstate the workers and on 17 August 1998, the High Court again ruled in favour of the SINUW with an Order for Enforcement of the earlier ruling of the Trades Disputes Panel. The Order states that the company must pay all entitlements due to the union members into a trust account to be held until the final determination of the dispute, and that the dismissed workers must be reinstated.

It is to be hoped, therefore, that there will soon be a resolution of the original dispute. At the same time, both the timber logging company’s initial refusal to negotiate with the trade union and their failure to respect High Court decisions provide evidence of worrying violations of core labour standards in this large-scale internationally traded sector. Clearly, the Solomon Islands’ exports of timber are cheaper as a result of such violations of trade union rights which have the effect of artificially suppressing wages in this sector.

II. Discrimination and Equal Remuneration

The Solomon Islands has ratified neither ILO Convention No. 100 (1951), Equal Remuneration, nor ILO Convention No. 111 (1958), Discrimination (Employment and Occupation).

The Constitution and the law accord women equal legal rights. However, in traditional society women are limited to customary family roles and women are very under-represented in the active labour force. The majority of women are illiterate, which is due in large part to cultural barriers. According to a 1997 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on human development, only 2.6 per cent of administrators and managers in the Solomons are women. The Solomon Islands ranks very low on the UNDP’s gender empowerment measure that examines women's ability to participate in economic and political life.

There is no law or national policy on the disabled and no legislation mandates access for the disabled. Most disabled persons face difficulty in finding employment, particularly those in rural areas.

Much discrimination persists in the Solomon Islands. This indicates the need for the government to undertake substantive policy initiatives to overcome discrimination, particularly in education and employment policy.

III. Child Labour

The Solomon Islands has not ratified ILO Convention No. 138 (1973), the Minimum Age Convention.

The law of the Solomon Islands forbids child labour by children under the age of 12, except light agriculture or domestic work performed in the company of parents. Children under age 15 are barred from work in industry or on ships; those under age 18 may not work underground or in mines.

There is no compulsory education, and, according to some estimates, only 60 percent of school age children have access to primary education. The percentage of children attending secondary school is much smaller.

IV. Forced Labour

The Solomon Islands ratified ILO Convention No. 29 (1930), the Forced Labour Convention, in 1985. It has not ratified ILO Convention No. 105 (1957), the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention.

Forced labour is prohibited by the Constitution of the Solomon Islands. However, the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has on many occasions requested clarifications from the government about the definition of the term "forced labour" in the Constitution, specifically concerning various exclusions from this category including communal services and for public servants. The government has never replied to these requests. The Committee has also requested clarification of what effect is given or is proposed to be given to Article 25 of ILO Convention No. 29, concerning penalties to be imposed for the illegal exaction of forced or compulsory labour.

There have been no reports of forced labour in the Solomon Islands.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

• Only one of the seven ILO Conventions on core labour standards has been ratified by the Solomon Islands, one of the worst rates of ratification in the world. In many areas, further government efforts are required in order to respect the commitments to fundamental workers’ rights supported by the Solomon Islands in the Singapore and Geneva WTO Ministerial Declarations and in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

• The government of the Solomon Islands must urgently ratify ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and the right to organise and provide evidence that its labour legislation and application is in compliance with those conventions.

• In particular, the violation of workers’ rights in the timber sector over 1997-98 gives cause for concern that suppression of workers’ rights is being used to prevent the workers concerned from bargaining for a fair share of export revenues. Companies in export sectors are thus able to gain competitive advantage in world markets over firms in other countries that do respect core labour standards. Firm action is required by the government to ensure compliance with internationally-agreed core labour standards and with the Solomon Islands’ own legislation and High Court decisions.

• The government should provide the necessary resources for labour inspection to enable basic workers’ rights to be properly enforced throughout the economy, including in the small-scale sector.

• The government of the Solomon Islands should ratify ILO Conventions 100 and 111. It needs to undertake policy initiatives to overcome discrimination, particularly in education policy (to address the low literacy rate among women) and in employment policy.

• The Solomon Islands should initiate steps to ratify ILO Convention 138. The government needs to review and improve its education legislation and policy in order to raise the low primary school enrolment rate. The legislation of the Solomon Islands with regard to the minimum age for employment needs to be amended to bring it into line with ILO Convention 138, requiring an increase in the minimum age for employment from 12 to at least 14.

• The Solomon Islands should ratify ILO Convention 105 on the prohibition of forced labour, provide the required responses and clarifications on its law on forced labour to the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations and, if necessary, amend its law in consequence of the conclusions of the ILO Committee of Experts.

• Consistent with the commitments accepted by the Solomon Islands at the Singapore and Geneva WTO Ministerial Meetings and its obligations as a member of the ILO, the Solomon Islands should therefore, where necessary, report to the ILO on its legislative changes and policy measures in order to comply fully with internationally recognised core labour standards.

• The Solomon Islands should provide a report on these issues to the WTO General Council on the occasion of the next trade policy review.

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References

ICFTU, Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, various editions.

International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IBFWW), various press releases and reports.

ILO, Reports of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, 1993-1998.

Pacific Report, various editions, 1997-98.

South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU), various Conference and Steering Committee reports and minutes, 1996-98.

South Pacific and Oceanic Council of Trade Unions (SPOCTU), Pacific Unionist, June 1998.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report, 1997.