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Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association

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Collective bargaining15

Restrictions on the principle of free and voluntary bargaining

Compulsory arbitration

  1. The imposition of a compulsory arbitration procedure if the parties do not reach agreement on a draft collective agreement raises problems in relation to the application of Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2716Philippines358860
Digest: 2006992
  1. Provisions which establish that, failing agreement between the parties, the points at issue in collective bargaining must be settled by the arbitration of the authority are not in conformity with the principle of voluntary negotiation contained in Article 4 of Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2473United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland3461539
2894Canada367340
2983Canada370284
3107Canada377241
Digest: 2006993
  1. Recourse to compulsory arbitration in cases where the parties do not reach agreement through collective bargaining is permissible only in the context of essential services in the strict sense of the term (i.e. services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population).
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2716Philippines358860
2785Spain362736
2803Canada360343
Digest: 2006994
  1. In certain cases, the Committee has regretted that the government has not given priority to collective bargaining as a means of regulating employment conditions in a non-essential service, but rather that it felt compelled to have recourse to compulsory arbitration in the dispute in question.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006996
  1. The use of collective bargaining to settle problems of rationalization in undertakings and improve their efficiency may yield valuable results for both the workers and the undertakings. Nevertheless, if this type of collective bargaining has to follow a special pattern which imposes bargaining on the trade union organizations on those aspects determined by the labour authority and stipulates that the period of negotiation shall not exceed a specified time; and failing agreement between the parties, the points at issue shall be submitted to arbitration by the said authority, such a statutory system does not conform to the principle of voluntary negotiation which is the guiding principle of Article 4 of Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006997

Intervention by the authorities in collective bargaining

  1. In cases of government intervention to restrict collective bargaining, the Committee has considered that it is not its role to express a view on the soundness of the economic arguments used by the Government to justify its position or on the measures it has adopted. However, it is for the Committee to express its views on whether, in taking such action, the Government has gone beyond what the Committee has considered to be acceptable restrictions that might be placed temporarily on free collective bargaining
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2821Canada364378
Digest: 2006998
  1. In any case, any limitation on collective bargaining on the part of the authorities should be preceded by consultations with the workers and employers organizations in an effort to obtain their agreement.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2467Canada344568
3039Denmark373264
Digest: 2006999
  1. In cases in which governments had, on many occasions over the past decade, resorted to statutory limitations on collective bargaining, the Committee pointed out that repeated recourse to statutory restrictions on collective bargaining could, in the long term, only prove harmful and destabilize labour relations, as it deprived workers of a fundamental right and means of furthering and defending their economic and social interests.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2183372373
2183378465
2177 372373
2177 378465
Digest: 20061000
  1. Repeated and extensive intervention in collective bargaining can destabilize the overall framework for labour relations in the country if the measures are not consistent with the principles of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2820Greece365995
  1. State bodies should refrain from intervening to alter the content of freely concluded collective agreements.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2502Greece3441018
2785Spain362736
2821Canada364380
2947Spain371463
3039Denmark373263
3072Portugal376923
Digest: 20061001
  1. State bodies should refrain from intervening in free collective bargaining between workers and employers organizations.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
3155Bosnia and Herzegovina378105
  1. In general terms, the Committee wishes to underline the importance it attaches to the principle of the autonomy of the parties to the collective bargaining process, a principle generally recognized in the preparatory discussions that led to the adoption by the Conference in 1981 of the Collective Bargaining Convention (No. 154). It follows from this principle that the public authorities should not as a rule intervene in order to modify the contents of collective agreements freely concluded. Such intervention would be justified only for cogent reasons of social justice and the general interest.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1052Panama211155
  1. Respect for the rule of law implies avoiding retroactive intervention in collective agreements through legislation.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2821Canada364380
  1. The intervention by a representative of the public authorities in the drafting of collective agreements, unless it consists exclusively of technical aid, is inconsistent with the spirit of Article 4 of Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061002
  1. The Committee recognizes that there comes a time in bargaining where, after protracted and fruitless negotiations, the authorities might be justified in stepping in when it is obvious that the deadlock in bargaining will not be broken without some initiative on their part.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2785Spain362737
Digest: 20061003
  1. The Committee has expressed the view that the mere existence of a deadlock in a collective bargaining process is not in itself a sufficient ground to justify an intervention from the public authorities to impose arbitration on the parties to the labour dispute. Any intervention by the public authorities in collective disputes must be consistent with the principle of free and voluntary negotiations; this implies that the bodies appointed for the settlement of disputes between the parties to collective bargaining should be independent and recourse to these bodies should be on a voluntary basis, except where there is an acute national crisis.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2741United States of America362765
Digest: 20061004
  1. Where intervention by the public authorities is essentially for the purpose of ensuring that the negotiating parties subordinate their interests to the national economic policy pursued by the government, irrespective of whether they agree with that policy or not, this is not compatible with the generally accepted principles that workers and employers organizations should enjoy the right freely to organize their activities and to formulate their programmes, that the public authorities should refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof, and that the law of the land should not be such as to impair or be so applied as to impair the enjoyment of such right.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2447Malta342751
2502Greece3441020
2820Greece365995
Digest: 20061005
  1. Legislation which permits the refusal to approve a collective agreement on grounds of errors of pure form is not in conflict with the principle of voluntary negotiation. If this legislation, however, implies that the filing of a collective agreement may be refused on grounds such as incompatibility with the general policy of the government, it would amount to a requirement that prior approval be obtained before a collective agreement can come into force.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061006
  1. While the Committee appreciates that the introduction of wage restraint measures must be timed in order to obtain the maximum impact on the economic situation, it nevertheless considers that the interruption of already negotiated contracts is not in conformity with the principles of free collective bargaining because such contracts should be respected.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061009
  1. While it is not its role to express a view on the soundness of the economic arguments invoked to justify government intervention to restrict collective bargaining, the Committee must recall that measures that might be taken to confront exceptional circumstances ought to be temporary in nature having regard to the severe negative consequences on workers terms and conditions of employment and their particular impact on vulnerable workers.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2820Greece365995
2947Spain371464
3072Portugal376917
  1. The harmonious development of labour relations would be facilitated if the public authorities, when dealing with the problems concerning the workers loss of purchasing power, adopted solutions which did not involve modifications of agreements without the consent of the parties.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2887Mauritius364697
Digest: 20061010
  1. Giving by law a special incentive encouraging one of the parties to denounce/cancel collective agreements by which pension funds were set up constitutes interference with the free and voluntary nature of collective bargaining. Moreover, the Committee considers that after the collective agreements by which pension funds were set up were denounced by one of the parties, it pertained to the parties themselves to determine whether and under which terms and conditions the funds would be dissolved and what would become of their assets. Nothing in Convention No. 98 enables the Government to step in and unilaterally determine these issues, much less to unilaterally determine that the assets of a private pension fund, established by collective agreement, would be appropriated and automatically transferred to a public pension scheme. These measures are contrary to Article 3 of Convention No. 87 and Article 4 of Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2502Greece3441018
  1. The Committee has highlighted the importance, in the context of an economic crisis, of maintaining permanent and intensive dialogue with the most representative workers and employers organizations.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2918Spain368362
  1. Making the validity of collective agreements signed by the parties subject to the approval of these agreements by the authorities is contrary to the principles of collective bargaining and of Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2365Zimbabwe3441447
2952Lebanon367879
Digest: 20061012
  1. Legal provisions which make collective agreements subject to the approval of the ministry of labour for reasons of economic policy, so that employers and workers organizations are not able to fix wages freely, are not in conformity with Article 4 of Convention No. 98 respecting the promotion and full development of machinery for voluntary collective negotiations.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061013
  1. The Government must ensure that the process of registration and publication of collective agreements only involves checks on compliance with the legal minima and questions of form, such as, for example, the determination of the parties and the beneficiaries of the agreement with sufficient precision and the duration of the agreement.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2699Uruguay3561389
  1. The requirement of Cabinet approval for negotiated agreements and of conformity with the policy and guidelines unilaterally set for the public sector are not in full conformity with the principles of freedom of association, which apply to all workers covered by Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061014
  1. The requirement of previous approval by a government authority to make an agreement valid might discourage the use of voluntary collective bargaining between employers and workers for the settlement of conditions of employment. Even though a refusal by the authorities to give their approval may sometimes be the subject of an appeal to the courts, the system of previous administrative authorization in itself is contrary to the whole system of voluntary negotiation.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061015
  1. Objections by the Committee to the requirement that prior approval of collective agreements be obtained from the government do not signify that ways could not be found of persuading the parties to collective bargaining to have regard voluntarily in their negotiations to considerations relating to the economic or social policy of the government and the safeguarding of the general interest. But to achieve this, it is necessary first of all that the objectives to be recognized as being in the general interest should have been widely discussed by all parties on a national scale through a consultative body in accordance with the principle laid down in the Consultation (Industrial and National Levels) Recommendation, 1960 (No. 113). It might also be possible to envisage a procedure whereby the attention of the parties could be drawn, in certain cases, to the considerations of general interest which might call for further examination of the terms of agreement on their part. However, in this connection, persuasion is always to be preferred to constraint. First, instead of making the validity of collective agreements subject to governmental approval, it might be provided that every collective agreement filed with the ministry of labour would normally come into force a reasonable length of time after being filed; if the public authority considered that the terms of the proposed agreement were manifestly in conflict with the economic policy objectives recognized as being desirable in the general interest, the case could be submitted for advice and recommendation to an appropriate consultative body, it being understood, however, that the final decision in the matter rested with the parties to the agreement.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061016
  1. The requirement of ministerial approval before a collective agreement can come into effect is not in full conformity with the principles of voluntary negotiation laid down in Convention No. 98. In cases where certain collective agreements contain terms which appear to conflict with considerations of general interest, it might be possible to envisage a procedure whereby the attention of the parties could be drawn to these considerations to enable them to examine the matter further, it being understood that the final decision thereon should rest with the parties. The setting up of a system of this kind would be in conformity with the principle that trade unions should enjoy the right to endeavour to improve, by means of collective bargaining, the conditions of living and of work of their members and that the authorities should refrain from any interference which might limit this right.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061017
  1. A provision which establishes as a ground for refusing approval the existence in a collective agreement of a clause which interferes with the right reserved to the State to coordinate and have the overall control of the economic life of the nation involves the risk of seriously restricting the voluntary negotiation of collective agreements.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061018
  1. The interruption by law of provisions in already concluded collective agreements is not in conformity with the principles of free collective bargaining.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2447Malta342748
  1. A legal provision which modifies unilaterally the content of signed collective agreements, or requires that they be renegotiated, is contrary to the principles of collective bargaining, as well as to the principle of the acquired rights of the parties.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2434Colombia344791
2469Colombia346415
  1. In a case in which, in the context of a stabilization policy, the provisions of collective agreements relating to remuneration were suspended (in the public and private sectors), the Committee emphasized that collective agreements which were in force should be applied fully (unless otherwise agreed by the parties).
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061007
  1. The suspension or derogation by decree without the agreement of the parties of collective agreements freely entered into by the parties violates the principle of free and voluntary collective bargaining established in Article 4 of Convention No. 98. If a government wishes the clauses of a collective agreement to be brought into line with the economic policy of the country, it should attempt to persuade the parties to take account voluntarily of such considerations, without imposing on them the renegotiation of the collective agreements in force.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2447Malta342748
2820Greece365995
2918Spain368362
2947Spain371464
3072Portugal376923
Digest: 20061008
  1. Repeated recourse to legislative restrictions on collective bargaining can only, in the long term, prejudice and destabilize the labour relations climate, if the legislator frequently intervenes to suspend or terminate the exercise of rights recognized for unions and their members. Moreover, this may have a detrimental effect on workers interests in unionization, since members and potential members could consider it useless to join an organization the main objective of which is to represent its members in collective bargaining, if the results of such bargaining are constantly cancelled by law.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2405Canada340452
2405Canada343335
2684Ecuador354831
2820Greece365995
Digest: 20061019
  1. The question of whether serious economic problems of enterprises may, in certain cases, call for the modification of collective agreements must be addressed, and, since it can be handled in various ways, the way to proceed should be determined within the framework of social dialogue.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2947Spain371453
  1. Legislation which obliges the parties to renegotiate acquired trade union rights is contrary to the principles of collective bargaining.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061020
  1. In examining allegations of the annulment and forced renegotiation of collective agreements for reasons of economic crisis, the Committee was of the view that legislation which required the renegotiation of agreements in force was contrary to the principles of free and voluntary collective bargaining enshrined in Convention No. 98 and insisted that the government should have endeavoured to ensure that the renegotiation of collective agreements in force resulted from an agreement reached between the parties concerned.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2723Fiji362842
2723Fiji365778
2829Republic of Korea365574
Digest: 20061021
  1. It would not be objectionable if, once it became clear that the implementation of an agreement concerning pension funds dependent on the State budget would be practically impossible, and after having exhausted all good faith efforts to achieve the implementation of the agreement, the Government undertook concrete efforts to renegotiate the agreement in order to find a solution that would be commonly acceptable to the parties.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061022
  1. Referring to an Act on the extension of collective agreements which followed other government interventions in collective bargaining, the Committee pointed out that such action, involving as it did statutory intervention in the collective bargaining process, should only be taken in cases of emergency and for brief periods of time. The Committee hoped that in future no similar measures would be taken to interfere with free collective bargaining or to restrict the right of workers to defend their economic and social interests through industrial action.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2467Canada344570
Digest: 20061023
  1. If, as part of its stabilization policy, a government considers that wage rates cannot be settled freely through collective bargaining, such a restriction should be imposed as an exceptional measure and only to the extent that is necessary, without exceeding a reasonable period, and it should be accompanied by adequate safeguards to protect workers living standards.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2467Canada344574
2639Peru3551011
2684Ecuador354830
2690Peru357944
2820Greece365990
2821Canada364379
2894Canada367343
2918Spain368362
2990Honduras368541
3072Portugal376923
Digest: 20061024
  1. A three-year period of limited collective bargaining on remuneration within the context of a policy of economic stabilization constitutes a substantial restriction, and the legislation in question should cease producing effects at the latest at the dates mentioned in the Act, or indeed earlier if the fiscal and economic situation improves.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2467Canada344572
2820Greece365990
2894Canada367343
Digest: 20061025
  1. Restraints on collective bargaining for three years are too long.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2820Greece365990
2894Canada367343
Digest: 20061026
  1. Where wage restraint measures are taken by a government to impose financial controls, care should be taken to ensure that collective bargaining on non-monetary matters can be pursued and that unions and their members can fully exercise their normal trade union activity.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061027
  1. The Committee is not mandated to decide on acceptable amounts of financial restraint, but where possible these measures should only extend to the sectors actually facing an emergency situation.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061028
  1. As regards the obligation for future collective agreements to respect productivity criteria, the Committee recalled that if, within the context of a stabilization policy, a government may consider for compelling reasons that wage rates cannot be fixed freely by collective bargaining (in the present case the fixing of wage scales excludes index-linking mechanisms and must be adjusted to increases in productivity), such a restriction should be imposed as an exceptional measure and only to the extent necessary, without exceeding a reasonable period and it should be accompanied by adequate safeguards to protect workers living standards. This principle is all the more important because successive restrictions may lead to a prolonged suspension of wage negotiations, which goes against the principle of encouraging voluntary collective negotiation.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061029
  1. The impossibility of negotiating wage increases on an ongoing basis is contrary to the principle of free and voluntary collective bargaining enshrined in Convention No. 98.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
3026374666
2690Peru357946
2941 374666
  1. Legislative provisions prohibiting the negotiation of wage increases beyond the level of the increase in the cost of living are contrary to the principle of voluntary collective bargaining embodied in Convention No. 98; such a limitation would be admissible only if it remained within the context of an economic stabilization policy, and even then only as an exceptional measure and only to the extent necessary, without exceeding a reasonable period of time.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2447Malta342750
Digest: 20061030
  1. In a case where government measures had fixed the base reference for the indexation of wages, whereas the parties had fixed another indexation system, the Committee recalled that the intervention of a government in areas which traditionally have always been negotiated freely by the parties could call into question the principle of free collective bargaining recognized by Article 4 of Convention No. 98, if it is not accompanied by certain guarantees and in particular if its period of application is not limited in time.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061031
  1. The determination of criteria to be applied by the parties in fixing wages (cost-of-living increases, productivity, etc.) is a matter for negotiation between the parties and it is not for the Committee to express an opinion on the criteria that should be applied in fixing pay adjustments.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 20061032
  1. In one case it was alleged that Article 4 of Convention No. 98 had been infringed because, when lengthy negotiations had reached a deadlock, the Government gave effect to the claims of the union by an enactment. The Committee pointed out that such an argument would, if carried to its logical conclusion, mean that, in nearly every country where the workers were not sufficiently strongly organized to obtain a minimum wage, and that this standard was prescribed by law, Article 4 of Convention No. 98 would be infringed. Such an argument would clearly be untenable. If a government, however, adopted a systematic policy of granting by law what the unions could not obtain by negotiation, the situation might call for reappraisal.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2887Mauritius364697
Digest: 20061044
  1. In a case in which general wage increases in the private sector were established by law, which were added to the increases agreed upon in collective agreements, the Committee drew to the Governments attention the fact that the harmonious development of industrial relations would be promoted if the public authorities, in tackling problems relating to the loss of the workers purchasing power, were to adopt solutions which did not entail modifications of what had been agreed upon between workers and employers organizations without the consent of both parties.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2887Mauritius364697
Digest: 20061045
  1. It is not contrary to Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 for a minister to urge the social partners, within the framework of the encouragement and promotion of the full development and utilization of collective bargaining machinery, to find a mutually acceptable solution to the conflict.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2545Norway3491155
  1. The presence of police forces in close proximity to the room where minimum wage negotiations take place is liable to unduly influence the free and voluntary nature of negotiations. Any police presence in the vicinity of meeting rooms where negotiations are taking place must be strictly justified by the circumstances.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346804
  1. Obliging the parties to a collective agreement to meet the extremely high cost of publication of that agreement in the Official Journal seriously impedes the application of Article 4 of Convention No. 98, which enshrines the principle of promotion of collective bargaining.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2622Cabo Verde351290
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