Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Czechia (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes the Government’s report as well as its reply to the comments made by the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS), dated 25 October 2004.

1. Taking into account allegations of slowness of a certain number of judicial procedures, the Committee had requested the Government to send additional information on the judicial procedure in case of anti-union discrimination or interference and, in particular, to indicate precisely the average duration of the procedure. The Committee had also requested the Government to transmit the text of the draft law on the civil service, which according to the Government makes it possible to collectively bargain in the public service. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government, according to which: (1) not all legal possibilities are always sufficiently utilized; (2) it is often difficult to prove acts of discrimination and a draft law on labour inspection has been submitted to Parliament in June 2004; the methodological rules for inspection will be checked before the adoption of the law in order to improve the situation; (3) draft legislation on extra-judicial settlement of disputes will be submitted to Parliament as well as a review of measures adopted to speed up civil-law litigation.

The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of developments concerning these matters.

2. The Committee notes that Act No. 218/2002 amending certain provisions of the Public Service Act has not yet entered into force. The Committee is not in a position to establish from the Government’s report whether the trade unions representing public servants not engaged in the administration of the State can negotiate or can only benefit from consultations. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the collective bargaining procedures in place for the negotiation of the terms and conditions of employment of public servants not engaged in the administration of the State and to transmit any relevant legislative texts.

3. The Committee takes note of the comments made by CMKOS on the current trend of replacing collective agreements with internal regulations and individual employer-employee relations and requests the Government to provide its observations thereon.