Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1992, publiée 79ème session CIT (1992)

Convention (n° 87) sur la liberté syndicale et la protection du droit syndical, 1948 - Norvège (Ratification: 1949)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government's report and the comments of the Norwegian Trade Union Federation of Oil Workers (OFS) of 10 May 1991. It also notes the conclusions of the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 1576 (279th Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association, adopted by the Governing Body at its 251st Session, November 1991) concerning the restrictions imposed on the right to strike by legislative means in the oil industry through the imposition of compulsory arbitration.

While noting the Government's statement in its report that the interference by the authorities in the right to strike in order to restrict or prohibit it is compatible with the Convention in the event that the strike is liable to cause considerable economic losses with a harmful effect on society or third parties and that the oil industry should, in this respect, be considered to be an essential service, the Committee recalls that the principle whereby the right to strike may be limited or prohibited in essential services would become meaningless if the legislation defined essential services too broadly. The Committee has already indicated that the prohibition upon the right to strike should be confined to services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, or in a situation of acute national crisis. Moreover, the Committee has considered it compatible with the Convention to maintain a minimum service, provided that it is restricted to operations that are strictly necessary to avoid endangering the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population and provided that workers' organisations are, if they wish, able to participate in defining the minimum service along with the employers and public authorities.

The Committee of Experts, in the same way as the Committee on Freedom of Association, expresses doubts as to the compelling need to have had recourse to compulsory arbitration in the dispute in the oil industry and encourages the parties concerned, with the participation of the Government if necessary, to reach an agreement on the minimum services that would be strictly necessary in order not to compromise the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population during a labour dispute in the oil sector. As did the Committee on Freedom of Association, the Committee of Experts recommends that all the parties to the dispute give priority to collective bargaining as the means of determining employment conditions.

Noting that, according to the information contained in the report of the Committee on Freedom of Association, the Government plans to examine possible modifications to the existing system, the Committee trusts that the Government will endeavour to take the necessary measures to bring national law and practice into conformity with the principles of the Convention and requests it to indicate any progress achieved in this respect in its next report.