1. International Training Centre of the ILO
The right to strike
Maura Miraglio, 7 July 2016
International Training Centre of the ILO

2. International Training Centre of the ILO
Outline
Importance of the right to strike
Strike modalities
Prerequisites
Restrictions
Focus on “essential services in the strict sense of the term” and “negotiated minimum service”
Sanctions
ILO resources
International Training Centre of the ILO

3. International Training Centre of the ILO
The right to strike
A basic right, but not an absolute right
An essential means available to workers and their organizations to protection their interests
An intrinsic corollary of the right to organize
Developed by the ILO supervisory bodies from arts. 3 and 10 of C87
Now contested
International Training Centre of the ILO

4. International Training Centre of the ILO
Strike modalities
Any work stoppage, however brief and limited
Also sympathy strikes, if the initial one is lawful
Purely political strikes do not fall within the scope of freedom of association
International Training Centre of the ILO

5. International Training Centre of the ILO
Prerequisites
Prerequisites admissible, e.g.:
exhaustion of prior procedures like conciliation, mediation and voluntary arbitration – not complex or slow
advance notice
quorum and majority
International Training Centre of the ILO

6. International Training Centre of the ILO
Restrictions
Restrictions possible for:
public servants exercising authority in the name of the State
essential services in the strict sense of the term
situations of acute national or local crisis, for a limited period and to the extent necessary to meet the requirements of the situation
Compensatory guarantees to be provided to workers deprived: conciliation, mediation, arbitration
International Training Centre of the ILO

7. International Training Centre of the ILO
Essential services
= Services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population
Not absolute concept
A non-essential service may become essential if the strike exceeds a certain duration or extent, or as a function of the special characteristics of a country
International Training Centre of the ILO

8. International Training Centre of the ILO
Essential services
Health and ambulance services
Electricity services
Water supply services
Telephone service
Police and armed forces
Fire-fighting services
Public or private prison services
Provision of food to pupils of school age, school cleaning
Air traffic control
International Training Centre of the ILO

9. Not essential services
Radio and television
Petroleum sector
Ports
Banking
Computer services for the collection of excise duties and taxes
Department stores and pleasure parks
The metal and mining sectors
Transport generally
Airline pilots
Production, transport and distribution of fuel
Railway services
International Training Centre of the ILO

10. Not essential services (Cont’d)
Metropolitan transport
Postal services
Refuse collection services
Refrigeration enterprises
Hotel services
Construction
Automobile manufacturing
Agricultural activities, the supply and distribution of foodstuffs
The Mint
The government printing service and the state alcohol, salt and tobacco monopolies
Education sector
Mineral water bottling company
International Training Centre of the ILO

11. International Training Centre of the ILO
Minimum service
Possible in situations in which a substantial restriction or total prohibition of the right to strike would not appear to be justified and consideration might be given to ensuring that users’ basic needs are met or that facilities operate safely or without interruption
Limited to the operations strictly necessary to met the basic needs of the population or the minimum requirements of the service
Workers’ and employers’ should participate in defining such a service
Any disagreements should be settled by a joint or independent body which has the confidence of the parties
International Training Centre of the ILO

12. Minimum service examples
Ferries
Ports
Underground transport
Rail transport
Transportation of passengers and commercial goods
Postal services
Refuse collection
The Mint, banking services and petroleum
International Training Centre of the ILO

13. International Training Centre of the ILO
Sanctions
FOA principles do not protect against abusive or unlawful exercise of the right to strike
Proportionate disciplinary sanctions are acceptable in case of unlawful strikes
No penal sanctions for organizing or participating in a peaceful strike
International Training Centre of the ILO

14. International Training Centre of the ILO
Key resources
Digest of decisions and principles of the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association (2006)
CHAPTER 10
Giving Globalization a Human Face, General Survey by the ILO Committee of Experts on the fundamental Conventions (2012)
PARAS
International Training Centre of the ILO

15. International Training Centre of the ILO
Other resources
Tripartite Meeting on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), in relation to the right to strike and the modalities and practices of strike action at national level (23-25 February 2015)
Background document
Final report and outcome of the meeting
International Training Centre of the ILO

16. International Training Centre of the ILO
THANK YOU FOR THE
ATTENTION!
Maura Miraglio
ITCILO International Labour Standards, Rights at
Work and Gender Equality Programme
International Training Centre of the ILO