ILO: Right to strike fundamental to democracy

Global union and employer representatives have reached a breakthrough at the ILO following an agreement that the right to strike is fundamental.

The agreement, which came during a special ILO meeting in Geneva, ends a two year impasse over the recognition of the right to take industrial action and comes on the back of a hugely successful global union mobilisation on 18 February. Workers took to the streets during more than 100 actions in over 60 countries worldwide.

UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings said, “Our standpoint has always been clear – removing the right to strike is removing democracy itself.

“This agreement is the culmination of two years of hard work by the labour movement, spearheaded by the ITUC, and we’re delighted that the ILO is now able to return to business as usual.”

Attempts by employers’ groups at the ILO to challenge more than 60 years of case law of the ILO supervisory system, and deny an international right to strike, precipitated a crisis in 2012.

The failure to resolve the dispute and the lack of support from enough governments to refer the matter to the International Court of Justice, left workers without the protection of a functioning ILO system.

Christy Hoffman represented UNI at the ILO meeting, which also included labour leaders from across the world. Social dialogue has proved its worth, and the Government Group recognized in their statement:

"...that the right to strike is linked to freedom of association which is a fundamental principle and right at work of the ILO. The Government Group specifically recognizes that without protecting a right to strike, Freedom of Association, in particular the right to organize activities for the purpose of promoting and protecting workers’ interests, cannot be fully realized."

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, said, “Having created the crisis, employer groups and some governments were refusing to allow the issue to be taken to the International Court of Justice even though the ILO Constitution says it should be. We’ve now managed to negotiate a solution which protects the fundamental right of workers to take strike action, and allows the ILO to resume fully its work to supervise how governments respect their international labour standards obligations.”