Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Serbia (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) received on 1 September 2018 as well as the observations of the Trade Union Confederation Nezavisnost, the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (CATUS) and the Serbian Association of Employers (SAE) received on 7 November 2018. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments thereon as well as on the outstanding observations made by the Union of Employers of Serbia and the Confederation of Free Trade Unions in 2012.

Civil liberties. In its previous observation the Committee requested the Government to provide further information on the follow-up measures taken by the Ministry of Interior to investigate the ITUC allegation of an attempted assault during a strike organized by the Independent Trade Union of Police (NSP). The Government indicates that it has engaged with the NSP which indicated that it had no information regarding trade union activists who suffered physical violence before, during or after the strike and was only aware of disciplinary proceedings where a final legal decision was made.

Article 2 of the Convention. Right of employers to establish and join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization. The Committee recalls once again that for a number of years, it has been commenting upon the need to amend section 216 of the Labour Act, which provides that employers’ associations may be established by employers that employ no less than 5 per cent of the total number of employees in a certain branch, group, subgroup, line of business or territory of a certain territorial unit, in order to establish a reasonable minimum membership requirement. In its previous observations, the Committee had noted the Government’s indication that the Committee’s comments on section 216 would be taken into consideration in the course of the amendment of the Labour Act. The Committee had also observed that, in its conclusions, the 2011 Conference Committee considered that the Government should accelerate the long-awaited amendment of section 216 of the Labour Act and expressed concern at the lack of full participation of the social partners in the legislative review. The Committee regrets that the Government’s report does not contain any information in this respect and expects that the process of revising the relevant legislation will be conducted in full consultation with the social partners and that due account will be taken of the need to amend section 216 of the Labour Act in order to establish a reasonable minimum membership requirement that does not hinder the establishment of employers’ organizations. The Committee expects that the legislative process will be completed in the near future and requests the Government to provide information on any developments in this regard.