Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (Ratification: 1949)

Article 3 of the Convention. Return of workers to their posts following lawful industrial action. In its previous comments, the Committee recalled that workers who stage a lawful strike should be able to return to their posts after the end of the industrial action, and requested the Government to review the legislation, in full consultation with workers’ and employers’ organizations concerned, with a view to strengthening the protection available to workers who stage official and lawfully organized industrial action. With reference to its observation, the Committee notes the additional concerns raised by the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in this regard in relation to the recent proposals to permit striker replacements, which it fears could enable employers to indefinitely prolong disputes and undercut striking workers. The Committee once again requests the Government to review this matter with the social partners concerned in light of the recent proposals, with a view to strengthening the protection available to workers, and to provide information on the steps taken in this regard.

Notice requirements for industrial action. In its previous comments, the Committee, while noting the observations of the TUC to the effect that the notice requirements for an industrial action to be protected by immunity were unjustifiably burdensome, had further noted with interest a series of court judgments provided by the Government that appeared to bring clarity to these concerns. The Committee notes that the TUC in its latest observations raises concerns about additional notice requirements set out in the Trade Union Bill (section 7) and requests the Government to provide its comments thereon.