Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must repeat its previous observation, which read as follows:

The Committee recalls that for a number of years it has been commenting on the need to amend sections 9, 10 and 11A of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act No. 14 of 1975, as amended ("the Act"), which empower the Minister to submit an industrial dispute to compulsory arbitration and hence to terminate any strike. The Committee has noted in the past that the Minister’s powers to refer an industrial dispute to the Industrial Dispute Tribunal are too broad, the list of essential services contained in the first schedule to the Act is too extensive, and the notion of a strike which is likely to be "gravely injurious to the national interests" can be interpreted overly broadly. In previous reports, the Government had stated that it was making significant progress in reforming the Act through the Labour Advisory Committee. It once again informed the Committee that an amendment to the first schedule of the Act had been proposed, which would result in the deletion of the following services from the list of those deemed to be essential: public passenger transport services; telephone services; any business whose main functions consist of the issue and redemption of security, government securities and the trading in such securities; management of the official reserves of the country, providing banking services to the Government; and air transport services for the carriage of passengers, baggage, mail or cargo destined to or from Jamaica or within Jamaica. With respect to the power of the Minister to refer an industrial dispute to compulsory arbitration, in its previous reports, the Government stated that the Committee’s concern had been noted and that this section was still in the process of revision.

The Committee once again recalls that the provisions of the Act can be broadly interpreted in such a way as to permit the use of compulsory arbitration in situations other than those involving essential services or acute national crises. It therefore expresses the firm hope that the list of essential services will be amended in the near future so as to refer only to essential services in the strict sense of the term; namely, those services, the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population (see General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, 1994, paragraph 159). The discretion of the Minister to amend the first schedule should also be limited by such criteria. Furthermore, the Committee recalls the need to amend sections 9, 10, and 11A of the Act which provide the Minister with extensive powers to refer an industrial dispute to the Tribunal. It once again recalls that the imposition of compulsory arbitration should be limited to essential services or situations of acute national crises; otherwise, recourse to compulsory arbitration should only be possible at the request of both parties to the dispute. The Committee requests that the Government indicate in its next report any progress made in this regard and provide copies of any draft texts proposed to amend the legislation on the abovementioned points.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.