On the Right to Strike Controversy

Kari Tapiola

Last year June marked the third consecutive year where serious divergences concerning the right to strike affected the International Labour Conference. In turn this resulted in the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards only being able to partially conclude its work. Historically it is worth recalling that, since the 19th Century, the fear of strikes had been the main reason for limiting workers’ organising rights. Conversely, the gradual permission of organising – or “combining”, as it was previously known – was accompanied by recognising the right to strike.

A Comparative Analysis on Freedom of Association was published by the ILO in 1927 and at that time there was no formal agreement on the standards regarding freedom of association. The Analysis concluded that it was seemingly impossible to make a distinction between the right to strike and the right to organise. Limitations of the right to strike also translated into limitations of the right to organise. The right to limit both, in certain conditions or for specific categories of workers, was recognised. Yet the two rights were, and still are, indivisible.