Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Lithuania (Ratification: 1994)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government's first report.

The right of employers to establish organizations of their own choosing (Article 2 of the Convention). The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that employers may establish organizations of their choice in accordance with the provisions of the Act on Public Organizations and the Act on Associations. Since the first article of the Act on Public Organizations lays down that it does not apply to trade unions, the Committee requests the Government to supply details on the application in practice and in legislation of this Act to employers' trade unions and to supply the number of employers' organizations registered to date.

The right of workers to establish organizations without previous authorization (Article 2). In regard to article 8 of the Act on Trade Unions which provides that where registration of a trade union is denied, its founder members will be informed in the three days following the decision and that the refusal may be appealed to the courts which shall investigate within ten days the Committee requests the Government to indicate what can be the grounds for refusal to register a trade union and whether the courts may review the grounds for refusal so that it can ensure that the provision is in full conformity with Article 2 of the Convention.

Right of the organization to elect freely their representatives (Article 3). The Committee asks the Government to indicate whether foreign workers residing legally in the country may be eligible for trade union functions.

The right of workers' organizations to organize their activities without interference from the public authorities (Articles 3 and 10). In regard to the right to strike, the Committee notes that section 10 of the Act on the Regulation of Collective Disputes, 1992, provides a general prohibition in regard to striking in the sectors of defence and national security, the electricity companies, the centralized supply of heating and oil, and in emergency health services. The Committee also notes that this article provides that requests by workers in these sectors will be taken into consideration by the Government. The Committee wishes to recall in this regard the principles formulated by the supervisory bodies:

-- the right to strike is one of the essential means available to workers and their organizations in order to promote and defend their occupational, economic and social interests;

-- restrictions or prohibitions of this right should be limited to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State or to essential services in the strict meaning 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;

-- if such prohibitions are adopted, safeguards must be provided to protect the workers who are deprived of an essential means of defence of their occupational interests. These prohibitions should be offset by appropriate, impartial and speedy conciliation and arbitration procedures at the various stages at which those concerned should be able to participate. The decisions of arbitration should be binding for both parties and, once issued, should be implemented rapidly and completely;

-- the trade unions should be able to participate in defining minimum services.

The Committee considers that while defence, national security and emergency health services are essential services in the strict meaning of the term, the other services set out in the list are not necessarily so.

(For all these principles, see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraphs 152 to 164.)

Consequently, the Committee requests the Government to specify the mechanisms provided to deal with the demands of workers who are deprived of the right to strike.

The Committee also notes that section 10 of the Act on the Regulation of Collective Disputes lays a prohibition on the right to strike in regions where a state of emergency has been proclaimed. The Committee requests the Government to specify the legal framework and the procedure for the declaration of a state of emergency, recalling that these restrictions should be for a limited period only and invoked only in situations of acute national crisis (see General Survey, paragraph 152).

The Committee requests the Government to supply information in its next reports on the application and operation in practice of current industrial relations systems, particularly by supplying copies of the administrative or legal decisions issued under the new legislation.