Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Ratification: 2001)

Article 3 of the Convention. Right to strike. In its previous comment, the Committee noted that pursuant to section 6 of the LRB, an employee engaged in essential services shall not withdraw his or her services except as provided under the Essential Services Act and requested the Government to provide a copy of this Act. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that section 2(7) of LRB, which was added to the draft legislation, defines “essential services”. The Committee notes that the definition contains a list of services, which includes “sanitary and waste management services”. In this regard, the Committee recalls that essential services, for the purposes of restricting or prohibiting the right to strike, are only those “the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population”, and that it should be possible for strikes to be organized by workers in both the public and private sectors in numerous services, including refuse collection (see General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paras 131 and 134). It further recalls that in situations in which a substantial restriction or total prohibition of strike action would not appear to be justified and where, without calling into question the right to strike of the large majority of workers, consideration might be given to ensuring that users’ basic needs are met or that facilities operate safely or without interruption, the introduction of a negotiated minimum service, as a possible alternative to a total prohibition of strikes, could be appropriate (2012 General Survey, para. 136). In view of the above, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to delete “sanitary and waste management services” from the list of essential services provided in section 2(7) of the LRB and establish only a minimum service with the participation of workers and employers in the definition of such a service. Noting with regret that the Government did not provide a copy of the Essential Services Act, the Committee also reiterates its previous request.