its administration freely, and also to avoid harmful and perhaps unjustified publicity or the disclosure of information which might be confidential. Consequently, the Committee of Experts considered that the powers of supervision contained in the abovementioned sections of the Labour Act were excessive and asked the Government to take the necessary measures to amend them so as to ensure the right of workers’ and employers’ organizations to organize their administration without interference by the public authorities. 247. Third, with regard to the right to strike, the Committee of Experts requested the Government to delete reference to the power of the Minister to declare a service essential and thus prohibit the exercise of the right to strike in section 103 of the Labour Act. It also requested the Government to amend section 104(3)(e) of the Act so as to ensure that when a vote by workers was required in order to call a strike, account was taken only of the votes cast. 248. The Committee of Experts also expressed its concern at the disproportionate penalties which could be imposed for strikes and therefore requested the Government to amend sections 109 and 112 of the Labour Act, which established excessive sanctions, including possible imprisonment for up to five years of individuals engaged in an unlawful collective action, and section 107 of the Act conferring the power on the Labour Court to dismiss an individual engaged in such action and to suspend or rescind the registration of the trade union involved in such action. 249. At its 2006 session, the Committee of Experts had before it comments provided by the Government on most of the points raised previously. On the issue of registration, the Government explained that the Registrar could refuse an application for registration on the following grounds: (1) the organization had no constitution or its constitution fails to meet the requirements; (2) there was no proof of membership; (3) the leadership had a known and proven track record of illegal conduct; (4) there was no proof of a grouping (i.e. minutes of a congress); and (5) there were credible objections submitted during accreditation proceedings from stakeholders and existing trade unions in the particular industry indicating serious implications for the interests of workers in general. The Government added that transparency of the registration procedure was ensured by section 40(4) of the Labour Act, which required the Registrar to indicate the reasons for the suspension of registration of the trade union and provided for a right to appeal to the Labour Court against the Registrar’s decision. In this respect, the Committee of Experts requested the Government to provide further information on the requirements to be met in a trade union constitution for registration purposes, to clarify the meaning of “credible objections by stakeholders and existing trade unions” and to provide examples, if any, of the denial of registration on that ground. The Committee of Experts also noted the Government’s indication that the registration of trade unions or employers’ organizations was not compulsory and that they could exist and perform their functions without being registered. 250. The Committee of Experts further noted the Government’s explanation of the application of section 51 of the Labour Act empowering the Minister to supervise the election of officers of trade unions or employers’ organizations. According to the Government, those who supervised elections merely observed that the procedure and conduct of elections were followed in terms of the established rules and constitution of the trade union concerned. The Committee of Experts nevertheless pointed out that the autonomy of organizations could be effectively guaranteed only if their members had the right to elect their representatives in full freedom. It considered that legislative provisions, which enabled the public authorities to interfere in the election procedure, were contrary to the principles of freedom of association and therefore requested the Government to amend section 51 so as to ensure the right of employers’ and workers’ organizations to elect their representatives in full freedom and without interference from the authorities. 251. With regard to section 55 of the Labour Act, while the Government explained that this section was intended to protect the interests of workers against the pegging of unsustainable trade Meetings-2009-Zimbabwe C of I-2009-12-0035-3-En.doc/v3 69