Right to strike protected under key labour treaty, says UN World Court
By 10 votes to four, the UN World Court ruled “the right to strike of workers and their organizations is protected” under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).The Court, however, stressed that its opinion did not define the exact scope of the right to strike. Its conclusion, the judges said, “does not entail any determination on the precise content, scope or conditions for the exercise of that right.”The case was referred to the Court by the ILO’s Governing Body in November 2023, after years of disagreement among the agency’s core constituents – governments, employers and workers – over whether Convention No. 87 protects the right to strike, even though the treaty does not explicitly mention strikes.Heart of the disputeAt the heart of the dispute was whether the right to organize under Convention No. 87 includes the right of workers and their organizations to take strike action.Employers’ groups stress that the convention contains no provision whose ordinary meaning implies such a right, and that the treaty’s drafting history showed no intention to include strike action.Workers’ representatives, by contrast, argue that the right to strike is inherent in freedom of association and has long been recognized by ILO supervisory bodies.The ILO said its Governing Body is expected to consider the matter at its November session, including any follow-up.
