Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1991, published 78th ILC session (1991)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Antigua and Barbuda (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee refers to its previous comments on the need to amend sections 19, 20 and 21 of the Industrial Courts Act, 1976, which can be applied in practice to place a general prohibition on the right to strike at the initiative of one party, as illustrated by the decision of the Committee on Freedom of Association in Case No. 1296. The Committee notes that this question has been forwarded to the Cabinet for a re-examination of the provisions on the right to strike.

The Committee has acknowledged that the right to strike may be limited in essential services in the strict sense of the term, that is those whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. In view of the fact that the Act provides that arbitration may be compulsory and can be invoked by only one of the parties, for these provisions to be in accordance with the Convention, the arbitration award would have to be accepted by both parties to the dispute and, failing agreement, the workers should still have the right to strike. With respect to the provisions allowing the grant of an injunction putting an end to a legal strike, the Committee recalls that such measures can only be justified in situations of acute national crisis, and then only for a limited period.

The Committee trusts that the Government will adopt the necessary measures to amend sections 19, 20 and 21 of the Industrial Courts Act, taking into account the above comments. It requests the Government to transmit to it rapidly the text of the above amendments and to keep it informed of any new development in this respect.