FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME Turin Training Centre Turin Training Centre Trade union training on ILS, ILO Declaration and Freedom of Association Asmara (Erythrea), November 2007

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE Right of workers’ and employers’ organizations to formulate their programmes (art. 3, C. 87))  Right of organizations to formulate their programmes include:  Right to hold meetings  Right to have access to the working place by trade union leaders with due respect for the rights of property and management  Right to communicate with management  Right to strike

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE  Most visible form of collective action in the context of a labour dispute The right to strike  Even if not expressly mentioned in ILO Conventions on FOA, the right to strike is fully recognized and protected  Legitimate weapon of workers’ organizations in furtherance of their members’ interests

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE Forms of strike  Any work stoppage, however brief and limited, may generally be considered as a strike  Political strikes do not fall within the scope of FOA. However possible recourse to protest strikes  Sympathy strikes are lawful when the initial strike is lawful  Restrictions on strike pickets and workplace occupations should be limited to cases where the action ceases to be peaceful

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE  The law may subordinate the exercise of the right to strike to certain prerequisites (reasonable criteria)  Prerequisites found to be acceptable:  Prerequisite not acceptable:  Decision by over half of all the workers involved  A quorum requirement of two-thirds  Compulsory arbitration before calling strike (when the result is binding)  Take strike decisions by secret ballot  Give prior notice to the employer before calling a strike  Conciliation, mediation, voluntary arbitration

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE  Compensatory guarantees should be provided for workers deprived of their right to strike  In cases of not essential services but of public utility, possible to establish a system of negotiated minimum service  Certain categories of workers can see their right to strike limited, even prohibited:  civil servants exercising authority in the name of the state  workers in essential services : services the interruption of which would endanger the life, the personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population  acute national crisis (limited period of time) Workers covered

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE Abuse of the right to strike  Sanctions provided in national legislation in case of abuse are acceptable  FOA principles do not protect against abuse  All penalties should be proportionate to the offence or fault committed. No imprisonment for organizing or participating in a peaceful strike

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION PROGRAMME / TURIN CENTRE  Workers and their organization have an obligation to respect the law of the land Intervention of the police in strike actions  Intervention of security forces in strike situation should be limited strictly to the maintenance of public order and only if there is a serious threat to law and order  Necessary instruction should be given to competent authorities so as to avoid the danger of excessive violence in trying to control demonstrations that might undermine public order * * *