Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) - Slovakia (Ratification: 1993)

Article 4 of the Convention. Promotion of collective bargaining. In its previous comments, the Committee observed that, according to section 7(7) and (8) of Act No. 2/1991 Coll. on Collective Bargaining (the Collective Bargaining Act) as last amended, an employer to which it is proposed to extend the binding effect of a higher-level collective agreement may submit to the ministry written objections to the extension proposal, and that these objections are the subject of consultations held in the framework of an advisory commission to be established by the ministry and to be mainly composed of representatives of the ministry, of representative employers’ organizations and of representative trade union organizations. The Committee had requested the Government to provide details on the working of this advisory commission and to provide information on the ruling to be handed down by the Constitutional Court concerning the extension of collective agreements under section 7 of the Collective Bargaining Act.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates that: (i) the Constitutional Court has not yet made a decision concerning the extension of collective agreements under section 7 of the Collective Bargaining Act; (ii) the Ministry of Justice requested the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family to provide an opinion on the proposal by members of the National Council of the Slovak Republic to initiate proceedings on the conformity of section 7(1), (2) and (11) of the Collective Bargaining Act with the Constitution of the Slovak Republic; and (iii) the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family provided such opinion in which it affirmed the constitutional and legal conformity of sections 7 and 7(a) of the Act.

The Committee further notes that the Government indicates that: (i) the Advisory Commission is a permanent tripartite collective advisory body of the Ministry of Labour, Social Justice and Family, which meets on an ad hoc basis to determine whether proposals to extend collective agreements meet the conditions set out in section 7(2) and (7) of the Collective Bargaining Act (that is, mainly assessing the terms of representativeness under the Collective Bargaining Act, taking into account the comments made by the employers); and (ii) although its endorsement of the extension of a collective agreement – adopted by absolute majority – is only of an advisory nature, it is generally followed by the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family.

The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any ruling by the Constitutional Court concerning the extension of collective agreements and the constitutionality of section 7 of the Collective Bargaining Act, as well as any additional information on the application in practice of this legal provision.