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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Republic of Moldova (RATIFICATION: 1996)

The Committee notes the observations of the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM), received on 21 December 2017, referring to the issues dealt with by the Committee below.

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their activities. The Committee had previously requested the Government to provide information on any progress made towards adopting legislative provisions expressly providing for the participation of the relevant trade unions and employers’ organizations in determining the minimum services to be ensured in the event of a strike, as well as towards amending the list of services where strikes are prohibited pursuant to section 369 of the Labour Code contained in Decision No. 656 of 11 June 2004. The Committee recalled in this respect that among services where strikes are prohibited, services such as air freight and communication system enterprises were neither essential services in the strict sense of the term nor did they involve public servants exercising authority in the name of the State, where the right to strike could be prohibited. The Committee regrets that the Government does not address these issues in its report. The Committee notes from the CNSM observations that on 7 November 2017, the Constitutional Court delivered a judgment on the constitutionality of section 369 paragraphs (2), (3) and (4) of the Labour Code, section 21 paragraphs (2) and (3) of the Code on Railway Transportation and Government Decision no. 656 of 11 June 2004 on the approval of the Nomenclature of Units, Sectors and Services whose employees cannot take part in strike. The CNMS indicates that the Court considered that within public authorities, the right to strike can be restricted only for some categories of workers, namely the persons exercising authority in the name of the State and those whose functional competencies are to ensure public order, law and state security; thus the rights to strike of other categories of public employees should not be limited. . The Committee understands that in order to implement the 2017 judgment of the Constitutional Court, the Government adopted Decision No. 389 on 25 April 2018, which amended Decision No. 656. The Committee requests the Government to transmit a copy of Decision 389. It further once again requests the Government to indicate all measures taken in consultation with the social partners to adopt legislative provisions expressly providing for the participation of the relevant trade unions and employers’ organizations in determining the minimum services to be ensured in the event of a strike.