Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

The Committee notes the comments of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania (CTUA) concerning the Government’s last report, and the comments made by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) on matters already examined by the Committee in previous comments. The Committee notes that, according to the CTUA, it is only possible to call a strike after the completion of mediation and conciliation procedures and that, of the approximately 30 cases submitted by the union for mediation, only eight, all in the energy sector, have been examined over the past two years. The Committee recalls that while the requirement of the exhaustion of remedies before a strike is compatible in spirit with the principles of freedom of association, the procedures should not be so complex or slow that a lawful strike becomes impossible in practice or loses its effectiveness (see General Survey of 1994 on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 171). The Committee requests the Government to provide its observations in reply to the comments of the CTUA, and to provide further information in its next report on the mediation and conciliation procedures required prior to calling a strike, including the number of appeals lodged and examined.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right to strike. The Committee recalls that for many years it has been commenting on the need to ensure that public servants who do not exercise authority in the name of the State are able to exercise the right to strike. The Committee recalls that, in a previous report in 2007, the Government indicated that it envisaged amending the Law on the conditions of service of civil employees so as to authorize them to call a strike, subject to a minimum service requirement. The Committee notes that the Government’s latest report no longer refers to the amendment of the Law on the conditions of service of civil employees with a view to recognizing their right to strike. The Committee is bound to express the firm hope that the Government will take the necessary measures without delay to amend the Law on the conditions of service of civil employees so as to allow public servants who do not exercise authority in the name of the State to exercise the right to strike, and that it will provide a copy of the relevant text when it has been adopted.

In its previous observation, the Committee requested the Government to indicate the measures taken to amend section 197/7(4) of the Labour Code, under the terms of which a sympathy strike is lawful if it is staged in support of a lawful strike against an employer who is actively supported by the employer of the sympathy strikers. The Committee recalled that workers should be able to stage sympathy strikes provided that the initial strike that they are supporting is itself lawful. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that it is considering the amendment of section 197/7(4) in accordance with the principles recalled above. The Committee trusts that the Government’s next report will contain information on the amendment of section 197/7(4) of the Labour Code to bring it into conformity with the principles of freedom of association.

Finally, the Committee previously requested the Government to clarify the meaning of the term “extraordinary situation” in which a strike may be suspended, under the terms of section 197/4 of the Labour Code. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the expression “extraordinary situation” set out in section 197/4 of the Labour Code corresponds to a state of emergency decreed by the National Assembly under the terms of the National Constitution.