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

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Caribbean Part of the Netherlands

Article 3 of the Convention. Right of workers’ organizations to organize their administration and activities. The Committee recalls that, in its previous comments relating to the Netherlands Antilles, it had highlighted the need to amend section 374(a), (b) and (c) of the Penal Code and section 82 of Ordinance No. 159 of 1964 containing the Conditions of Service of Public Servants, which prohibited public employees, including teachers, from striking under penalty of imprisonment. The Committee also recalls that it had noted the Government’s indication that: (i) not all Dutch legislation and policies applied directly to the islands of Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba (BES), which had become part of the country (that is, the Caribbean Part of the Netherlands), and that the Antilles legislation that had been in force on those three islands prior to the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, remained the same; and (ii) pursuant to the Kingdom Act of 3 December 2014, the reservations formerly made for the then Netherlands Antilles, which rendered Articles 6(4) of the European Social Charter and 8(1)(d) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (right to strike) not applicable to civil servants, had also been withdrawn for the Caribbean Part of the Netherlands. The Committee notes that the Government reiterates that this means that civil servants have the right to strike, even though it points out that the revised European Social Charter currently only applies to the European parts of the Netherlands. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that the Civil Service Act BES and the BES Legal Status Decree for Civil Servants do not prohibit the right to strike. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed up-to-date information concerning the legislative provisions currently governing the right to strike of civil servants (specifically confirming that section 374 of the old Penal Code of the Netherlands Antilles, or any other equivalent provision, has not been carried over into the new penal legislation), as well as on their application in practice, following the decision to revoke the restriction on the civil servants’ right to strike in the Caribbean Part of the Netherlands. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the applicable legislation, and to provide information on any strike actions taken or announced by civil servants in the Caribbean Part of the Netherlands, and the results of such actions.