Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

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

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report.

The Committee recalls that for several years its previous comments concerned the necessity to amend sections 9 and 10, paragraphs 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8 of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act No. 14 of 1975, as amended in 1978, 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 list of essential services contained in the legislation is too broadly defined and that the notion of a strike which is liable seriously to jeopardize the interests of the nation can be interpreted very widely.

The Government indicates that the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act is being revised and that the right to strike is one of the key areas examined. The Government adds that before deciding what sectors should be regarded as essential services, it has to carefully examine the dependence on the economy of these services.

The Committee reiterates that the right to strike is one of the essential means which should be available to workers and their organizations to promote and defend their economic and social interests. The Minister of Labour should therefore only be able to have recourse to the courts in the following circumstances: (1) in the event of strikes in essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population; or (2) in the event of total and prolonged stoppage of work which might constitute an acute national crisis; or (3) at the request of the two parties concerned (see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraphs 152, 154, 159 and 160).

The Committee urges the Government to provide information in its next report on the outcome of the reviewing process of the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act and to indicate the measures taken to amend its legislation in order to bring it into conformity with the principles of freedom of association.

The Committee is also addressing a request directly to the Government concerning some other points.