Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1998, publiée 87ème session CIT (1999)

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government's report.

The Committee notes with concern that for 15 years it has been commenting on section 4 of the Better Security Act, 1920, which provides that any person who wilfully breaks a contract of service or hiring, knowing that this may endanger real or personal property, is liable to a fine or up to three months' imprisonment, and that the Government in its report again informs the Committee that the Act has not yet been amended. The Committee again recalls that if this provision is applicable in the case of a strike, it should be amended so that such penalties may only be imposed with respect to essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely those services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal health or safety of the whole or part of the population, and that the sanctions should not be disproportionate to the seriousness of the violation. The Committee, therefore, urges the Government to amend the legislation to bring it into conformity with the principles of freedom of association, and requests it to inform the Committee of any measures taken in this regard, and to state whether this provision has been invoked in recent years.

The Committee also notes the statement in the Government's report that draft legislation regarding trade union recognition is currently under review. The Committee requests the Government to forward it a copy of this draft legislation and to keep it informed of the various stages in the adoption process that it has passed.