Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.