Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Germany (Ratification: 1957)

The Committee takes note of the information provided in the Government’s report.

Articles 3 and 10 of the Convention. Right of public service organizations to formulate their programmes in defence of the occupational interests of their members including by recourse to collective action and strike. The Committee has been requesting for a number of years the adoption of measures so as to recognize the right of public servants ("Beamte" including postal workers, railway employees and teachers among others) who are not exercising authority in the name of the State, to have recourse to strike action. The Committee takes note in this respect of the comments made by the ICFTU in a communication dated 19 July 2004, according to which the main limitation on civil servants’ rights, including teachers, railway employees and postal employees, is still the denial of the right to strike.

The Committee notes from the Government’s latest report that the conditions of employment of civil servants are laid down in national laws and that there are no formal collective negotiations with the trade unions, although the latter are involved in consultative hearings in accordance with a provision in the Civil Servants’ Act. In addition to this, last year innovative developments took place with a view to coming up with a draft legislation on the comprehensive modernization of the law governing civil servants, in collaboration with the trade unions concerned, in order to gain broad support for the considerable changes in conditions of employment involved in the new draft legislation. Against this backdrop, even the main issues paper on which the new legislation will be based was drawn up in collaboration with the leaders of the main unions. Thus, it has been possible to work out a conceptual framework creating conditions for a more performance-related approach in the public service. Constructive dialogue with the unions has enabled the Government to harmonize the expectations and views of the two parties, which is important, given the scope of the proposed reform which affects about 1.7 million civil servants at the federal, Länder and local levels.

Noting that a major reform of the civil service is under way, the Committee hopes that the Government will take due account of the longstanding comments of the Committee on the need to ensure that public servants ("Beamte" including postal workers, railway employees and teachers) who are not exercising authority in the name of the State, can have recourse to strike action in defence of their economic, social and occupational interests. The Committee requests that the Government indicate in its next report any measures in this respect and to communicate any relevant legislative texts.