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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Jamaica (RATIFICATION: 1962)

The Committee notes with regret that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. The Committee notes the Government's report mentioning the adoption, in 1988, of the Fire Brigade Act, which prevents this category of public servants from joining a union or an association which does not recruit only firemen.

The Committee requests the Government to provide the text of the said Act, so that it can examine its scope in relation with the union rights of the employees concerned.

2. According to available information, the Committee understands that the Supreme Court has recently held, on the basis of common law principles, that strikes are not a right but rather a freedom, whose exercise can lead to the termination of the employment contract.

The Committee wishes to draw the Government's attention to the fact that workers' organisations should have the right freely to organise their activities and to formulate their programmes (Article 3 of the Convention); to that end, they must be able to call strikes without subjecting the workers to sanctions, such as a termination of the employment contract when a strike is held, in conformity with freedom of association principles (see in that respect, paragraph 223 of the 1983 General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining).

The Committee requests the Government to provide the text of that judgement and to supply information on its practical effects.