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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Cyprus (Ratification: 1966)

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government's report.

In particular, the Committee notes with interest that a certain number of improvements have been made by amending the 1996 Act respecting trade unions. Section 16 of the Act now provides that the withdrawal or the annulment of the registration of a trade union may only be made at the request of the registrar of the trade unions by decision of the courts and not, as previously, by decision of the registrar of trade unions, whose decision could be re-examined by the Council of Ministers, and the re-examination was subject to an appeal to a court of law.

In its previous comments, the Committee had insisted on the need to amend sections 79A and 79B of the Defence Regulations which grant the Council of Ministers discretionary power to prohibit strikes in the services that they considered essential. The Committee recalled that strikes can only be prohibited in essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population.

The Government indicates in its latest report that the draft Bill on the right to strike in essential services is being examined by a ministerial committee which has met on several occasions and most recently on 17 July 1998. The Government reiterates that every effort will be made to ensure that the new legislation is in conformity with the provisions of the Convention.

The Committee recalls that it has been formulating its observations on the restrictions on the right to strike provided for in the Defence Regulations for more than a decade. The Committee trusts that the necessary steps will be taken in the near future to ensure the total conformity of the legislation with the principles of the Convention, namely that the right to strike may only be prohibited in essential services in the strict sense of the term, for public servants exercising authority in the name of the State or in times of acute national crisis. The Committee trusts that the Government will be able to indicate in its next report that substantial progress has been made in this regard. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made and to provide the text of the new legislation as soon as it has been adopted.