Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

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

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received.

The Committee further notes the comments submitted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in a communication dated 28 August 2007 reiterating the 2006 comments of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU, now ITUC) concerning issues already raised by the Committee on the restrictions to the right to strike of public servants. The Committee notes the Government’s communications in reply to the ICFTU’s comments and regrets that no information was provided by the Government on the question of the right to strike of public servants.

The Committee recalls that for a number of years it had been raising the issue of the prohibition of the right to strike in government institutions and other state or local authority departments (section 21(1) of the Collective Dispute Resolutions Act (1993)). It had also been requesting the Government to provide a “list of enterprises and agencies which satisfy the primary needs of the population and economy”, where minimum services must be maintained during a strike (section 21(3) and (4) of the Collective Dispute Resolutions Act). The Committee recalls that in its previous direct request, the Government had indicated that amendments to the Act, which would ensure that strikes in the public service would be prohibited only with regard to public servants exercising authority in the name of the State and would provide for the list of services where the rights to strike would be restricted (essential services), were about to be adopted. The Committee hopes that the Collective Dispute Resolutions Act will soon be amended and requests the Government to keep it informed in its next report on the progress made in this respect.