Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

The Committee recalls that its previous comments read as follows:

The Committee noted from the conclusions of the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 1775 (295th Report, paragraphs 502-518, approved by the Governing Body in November 1994) that the Settlement of Disputes (Essential Services) Act contains a list of essential services which go beyond the strict sense of essential services as those, the interruption of which could endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population.

The Committee drew the Government's attention to paragraph 179 of its 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining in which it underlines that the right to strike, an intrinsic corollary of the right of association, may be prohibited only with respect to certain categories of workers, such as public servants exercising authority in the name of the State or those engaged in essential services in the strict sense of the term. It therefore requests the Government to amend the schedule of essential services accordingly and to keep it informed of the progress made in this regard.

While it was sitting, the Committee received the Government's report which it will examine at its next meeting.