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Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Montenegro (RATIFICATION: 2006)

The Committee notes the legislative texts provided by the Government in response to the Committee’s request, including copies of the 2007 Act on peaceful resolution of labour disputes, the 2010 Rulebook on the registration of trade unions, the 2010 Rulebook on the registration of representative trade unions and the 2004 Rulebook on the manner and procedure of registration of general and branch collective agreements. The Committee also notes the General Collective Agreement concluded on 20 March 2014 at national level, which, according to the Government, repealed Collective Agreement No. 1/2004.

Article 1 of the Convention. Protection against anti-union discrimination. With reference to the issues raised in its observations concerning protection against acts of anti-union discrimination, the Committee further notes the Government’s indication that section 23 of the 2003 Act on strikes imposes on employers fines of 50 to 200 times the national minimum wage in cases of dismissal, suspension, disciplinary proceedings and other measures against employees due to the organization or participation in a strike. Noting the adoption of the 2015 Strikes Act, which repeals the 2003 Act on strikes, the Committee requests the Government to specify and provide information on the corresponding provision in the new Strikes Act.

Article 4. Determination of trade union representativeness. As regards the procedure for the determination of representativeness at the enterprise level, the Committee previously noted that sections 15, 17 and 18 of the Act on trade union representativeness refer to various powers of a “director”, for example, the power to establish a commission for determining the representativeness of trade unions and to decide on the representativeness at the proposal of the commission. The Committee had requested the Government to provide information as to the authority that this “director” represents, as well as on the mandate and procedure of the aforesaid commission. The Committee notes that the Government merely cites in its report sections 15–18 as last amended, and provides statistics and a list of representative trade unions at national and branch levels, as well as the number of appeals (three) filed with the board for determining representativeness pursuant to section 18. The Committee requests the Government once again to clarify the term “director” used in these provisions. Noting that section 17 of the Act on trade union representativeness as amended refers to the rules of procedure of the commission, the Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of these rules, as well as additional information on the mandate of the abovementioned commission.