Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Guernsey

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

The Committee notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) received on 29 August 2025, which are of a general nature.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities and formulate their programmes. The Committee previously requested the Government to provide its comments on the 2023 Trade Union Congress (UK) (TUC) observations alleging the lack of legal provisions protecting strike action. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Industrial Disputes and Conditions of Employment (Guernsey) Law 1993 establishes an alternative legal framework for resolving collective employment disputes related to terms and conditions of employment and that there is no statutory right to strike on the island. The Government adds that there is also no prohibition on strike action but participation in a strike may constitute a breach of contract and expose workers to disciplinary action or dismissal. While duly noting the applicable legal framework to resolve collective labour disputes, assessed in more detail in its comment under the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), the Committee recalls that the right to strike, while not absolute, is an essential means available to workers and their organizations to protect their interests; subjecting participation in a strike to disciplinary punishment, including dismissal, can in practice result in preventing any potential strike action and thus limiting trade unions’ legitimate means of action. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures, in consultation with the social partners, to ensure that workers’ organizations can engage in legitimate trade union activities without threat of disciplinary punishment, in accordance with their right to organize their activities and formulate their programmes guaranteed under Article 3. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged in this respect.

Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

The Committee notes the observations of the Trades Union Congress (UK) (TUC), received on 13 October 2023. The Committee notes that according to the TUC, national legislation lacks provisions protecting strike action. The TUC indicates that in a labour dispute between the Negotiating Committee for Teachers and Lecturers in Guernsey (NCTLG) and the Government’s Policy and Resources Committee (P&R) over a pay award package for 2022–24, a judgment by the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal enforced a pay award, preventing any potential strike action, while during a 2019 dispute between the Royal College of Nursing and the Government, the Government allegedly declared that there is no right to strike on the island. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments thereon.