Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1998, published 87th ILC session (1999)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Trinidad and Tobago (Ratification: 1963)

The Committee notes from the Government's report that the Committee appointed to review the Industrial Relations Act has resumed its activities, and hopes that its comments will be fully taken into account in the review.

The Committee points out the following:

-- the need to amend sections 59(4)(a), 61, 65 and 67 of the Industrial Relations Act, 1972, as amended, which can be applied to prohibit a strike which is not declared by a majority union, or at the request of one party, or in essential services defined too broadly, or when the Minister considers that the national interest is threatened, under penalty of imprisonment, so as to enable a simple majority of the voters in a bargaining unit (excluding those workers not taking part in the vote) to call a strike; and

-- to ensure that any resort to the courts by the Ministry of Labour or by one party only to end a strike is limited to cases of strikes in essential services in the strict sense of the term, that is to say those in which the strike would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, or in cases of acute national crisis or in relation to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State.

The Committee had noted the Government's statement in 1993 that a tripartite committee was to review the whole of the Industrial Relations Act, in consultation with the social partners. The Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention and requests the Government to indicate the progress made in this respect in its next report.