New Caledonia's Congress has endorsed a new piece of local legislation that tightens recognition of unions.
According to the text, a union now must have obtained the votes of at least five per cent of employees if it wants to be seen as representative.
The main criteria for a union to be recognised were the results obtained at professional elections, the amount of contributions it received from members, its number of members, and also its date of establishment.
New Caledonia's minister for employment, Alain Song, told Congress the main objective of the new legislation was to differentiate between large unions such as the USTKE, and smaller ones, like the newly-formed CSTNC.
The new law is scheduled to come into force on the 31st of March.
