Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The EU and its Member States are committed to the respect, protection and fulfilment of human rights, including labour rights. We promote universal ratification and effective implementation of fundamental ILO Conventions and support the ILO in developing and promoting international labour standards and supervising their application. 

In this context, we reiterate the commitment made by both parties in the trade agreement between the EU and Ecuador to the promotion and effective implementation of the core labour standards, as contained in the respective conventions, including Convention n°98. 

We welcome the Government of Ecuador’s willingness to resume dialogue with the ILO and its acceptance of an ILO contact mission. We encourage the Government to proceed swiftly in that direction. We also note that social partners have submitted detailed comments and observations in 2022, 2023 and 2024. We encourage further engagement with the social partners to ensure that their views are fully considered. 

We note with concern that, despite repeated requests by the Committee of Experts and the Conference Committee, Ecuador has not taken legislative steps to explicitly prohibit anti-union discrimination in access to employment. We urge the Government to adopt clear legal provisions with dissuasive sanctions, as required by Article 1 of the Convention. 

We remain concerned about reports of blacklisting, where judicial records are reportedly used to exclude applicants involved in labour disputes. While the 2024 data protection regulations are welcome, we support the Committee’s request for further information on their implementation and impact. 

On collective bargaining in the private sector, we are concerned that section 221 of the Labour Code, by imposing a high representativity threshold, presents a serious barrier for participation in collective bargaining. We recall that such thresholds must not hinder the promotion of voluntary collective bargaining. We regret that few new collective bargaining agreements have been concluded, with most recent ones merely revising existing ones. We support the call for legislative amendments to allow minority trade unions to negotiate on behalf of their members. We also encourage the Government to provide comprehensive data on the nature and scope of collective agreements.

We further express particular concern at the exclusion of workers from unionization and bargaining in sectors composed mainly of small enterprises, due to the requirement of a minimum of 30 workers to establish unions and enterprise committees and the impossibility of establishing first-level unions composed of workers from different enterprises. We call on the Government to amend legislation to allow sectoral bargaining and first-level unions across enterprises. 

In the public sector, we regret that legislation does not provide full protection against acts of anti-union discrimination and interference for leaders of all organisations of public servants. We reiterate the need for reform to ensure equality of protection, as required by Articles 1, 2 and 6 of the Convention, accompanied by dissuasive penalties. We also note the limited implementation of Constitutional Court ruling of 2020 and National Court of Justice ruling 10-2024 regarding the compulsory redundancy purchase mechanism and urge the Government to clarify remedial actions taken. 

We reiterate the importance of enabling meaningful collective bargaining for all public sector workers not engaged in state administration. We encourage the Government to ensure that recent regulatory actions and budgetary controls do not restrict rights guaranteed under Convention No. 98. 10. We also recall the persistent concerns under Convention No. 87 on freedom of association, as discussed during the 2024 Conference Committee. Legislative restrictions on the right to organise, high thresholds of representativeness required for bargaining, and lack of sectoral frameworks continue to prevent many workers from exercising their rights to collective bargaining and freedom of association. We reaffirm our position and the CAS conclusions adopted last year and urge the Government to address recommendations under both Conventions 11. The EU and its Member States remain committed to constructive engagement with Ecuador and all ILO constituents in a spirit of dialogue and cooperation. 

Thank you, Chair.