Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Barbados (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the comments made by the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) on the right to strike in a communication dated 29 August 2012, which are dealt with in the General Report of the Committee.

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation, which read as follows:

Article 3 of the Convention. The right of organizations freely to organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. The Committee recalls that for numerous years it has advised the Government to amend section 4 of the Better Security Act, 1920, according to which any person who wilfully breaks a contract of service or hiring, knowing that this could endanger real or personal property, is liable to a fine or up to three months’ imprisonment, so as to eliminate the possibility of employers invoking it in cases of strikes. The Committee notes that the Government indicated that the administrative authority has undertaken to move towards the drafting of an essential services legislation. The Committee recalls that no penal sanction should be imposed against a worker for having carried out a peaceful strike and measures of imprisonment should not be imposed on any account, including as regards strikes in essential services. Such sanctions could be envisaged only where during a strike, violence against persons or property or other serious infringements of rights have been committed, and can be imposed pursuant to legislation punishing such acts. Nevertheless, even in the absence of violence, if the strike modalities had the effect of making the strike illegitimate, proportionate disciplinary sanctions may be imposed against strikers. The Committee trusts that the Government will take duly into account the abovementioned principle when drafting the essential services legislation. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this respect and to provide a copy of the legislation once adopted. Moreover, the Committee once again requests the Government to amend section 4 of the Better Security Act, 1920, so as to bring it into conformity with the Convention.

Furthermore, the Committee recalls that it has been requesting the Government since 1998 to provide information on developments in the process of reviewing legislation regarding trade union recognition to which the Government had referred, or to indicate whether the drafting legislation process concerning trade union recognition could be considered as abandoned. In its previous observation, the Committees had also noted that the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados indicated that the Government submitted an amended Trade Union Act Cap. 361 to trade unions for comment and review. The Committee had noted that the Government indicated that the drafting process regarding legislation or trade union recognition is ongoing. The Committee requests the Government to provide with its next report information on any development in this respect.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.