Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Jamaica (Ratification: 1962)

The Committee notes the Government's report.

1. Referring to the adoption, in 1988, of the Fire Brigade Act, which prevents this category of public servants from joining a trade union or an association which does not recruit only firemen, the Committee again requests the Government to provide the text of the said Act, so that it can examine its scope in relation with the union rights of the employees concerned.

2. Further to its previous comments, the Committee takes due note of the Government's explanation as to the meaning of the "freedom to strike" in Jamaican common law, and particularly that - in the event of workers withdrawing their labour in furtherance of a trade dispute - although there is nothing to prevent an employer from considering the contract of employment as breached and thus terminating it, in practice this does not occur. However, the Committee stresses that a genuine protection should exist in this respect, otherwise the right to strike may be devoid of content (see 1994 General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining, paragraph 139).