Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - North Macedonia (Ratification: 1991)

The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Macedonia (KSS), received on 1 September 2021, which allege restrictions on the right to strike in the education sector, the failure to transfer to trade unions the dues withheld by the employers, as well as pressure on workers to leave their trade unions. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments thereon.

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Articles 2 and 9 of the Convention. Scope of application. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that, pursuant to article 37 of the Constitution, the conditions for exercising the right to union organization in “administrative bodies” (in addition to the police and the armed forces) can be limited by law and requested the Government to indicate what are the “administrative bodies” referred to in the Constitution and whether, and the extent to which, the law limits the right to organize of their workers. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that “administrative bodies” referred to in article 37 of the Constitution includes ministries, other state administration bodies (as independent state administration bodies or within ministries), and administrative organizations (set up for the performance of particular professional and other works requiring the application of scientific and expert methods). The Committee further notes that the Government emphasizes that freedom of association, apart from the general framework in the Constitution, is regulated by the Labour Law, which does not stipulate any limitation thereof. Recalling that under the Convention only the armed forces and the police may be subject to limitations concerning the enjoyment of the guarantees provided by the Convention, as well as the need to ensure conformity of national constitutional provisions with the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to amend article 37 of the Constitution to eliminate the possibility for the law to restrict the conditions for the exercise of the right to trade union organization in administrative bodies.

Article 3. Right of organizations to freely organize their activities and to formulate their programmes. In its previous comments the Committee had noted that, under the Law on Public Enterprises and the Law on Employees in the Public Sector: (i) employees in the public sector are entitled to strike; (ii) employees in the public sector are obliged to provide minimum services taking into account the rights and interests of citizens and legal entities; and (iii) in accordance with the applicable laws and collective agreements, the head of the respective institution determines the performance of the institutional activities of public interest that are to be maintained during a strike, the manner in which the minimum service will be carried out and the number of employees that will provide services during the strike. In this respect, the Committee recalled that the maintenance of minimum services in the event of strikes should only be possible in certain situations, namely: (i) in services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population (essential services in the strict sense of the term); (ii) other services in which strikes of a certain magnitude and duration could cause an acute crisis threatening the normal conditions of existence of the population; (iii) in public services of fundamental importance; and (iv) to ensure the security of facilities and the maintenance of equipment. The Committee further recalled that minimum services imposed should meet at least two requirements: (i) must genuinely and exclusively be minimum services, that is limited to the operations which are strictly necessary to meet the basic needs of the population or the minimum requirements of the service, while maintaining the effectiveness of the pressure brought to bear; and (ii) since this system restricts one of the essential means of pressure available to workers to defend their interests, their organizations should be able, if they so wish, to participate in defining such a service, along with employers and the public authorities. The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that it will take appropriate measures to ensure compliance with the Convention of the provisions in the Law on Public Enterprises and in the Law on Public Sector Employees. The Committee requests the Government to take, in consultation with representative public employee and public employer organizations, any necessary measures to ensure the determination of minimum services in public enterprises conforms with the situations described above, and to provide further information concerning such determination in practice (in particular as to the types of activities, and percentage of employees in those activities, that have been affected by a determination of minimum services, as well as the possibility for employee organizations to participate in the definition of minimum services).

In its preceding comment the Committee had requested the Government to amend section 38(7) of the Law on Primary Education and section 25(2) of the Law on Secondary Education, which oblige the school directors to provide for the realization of educational activities by replacing the striking employees when the educational activity is interrupted due to a strike. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it started amending the articles concerned to align them with the Convention but observes that, subsequently, a new Law on Primary Education was published on 5 August 2019, including a similar provision to require the replacement of striking workers. Pursuant to section 50(7), of the new Law on Primary Education, in case of a suspension of the educational and pedagogical work due to strike action, the principal of the primary school, upon receiving a previous consent by the Mayor, and by the Minister in the case of state primary schools, shall be obliged to ensure the performance of the educational and pedagogical work by substituting the striking workers for the duration of the strike action. In this regard, the Committee must recall that teachers and the public education services may not be considered an essential service in the strict sense of the term (services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population) and that provisions allowing for the replacement of striking workers are a serious impediment to the legitimate exercise of the right to strike. Regretting the lack of progress in this respect, the Committee once again requests the Government to amend the Law on Primary Education and the Law on Secondary Education, so as to remove the possibility of replacing striking workers and to enable workers in the primary and secondary education sectors to effectively exercise their right to strike, as well to provide a copy of the amended legal texts once adopted.

Legislative review. With regard to the review process of the Law on Labour Relations, the Committee notes that the Government indicates that social partners were included from the very beginning and that in the course of drafting the new law attention shall be paid to its compliance with ILO Conventions. The Committee expects that, in the context of the review of the Law on Labour Relations, the Government will take the necessary measures to bring its legislation into conformity with the Convention in line with the preceding comments and requests it to provide information on any developments, including a copy of the revised Law on Labour Relations once adopted.

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