ILO

International Court of Justice Moving Swiftly on Right to Strike Question Submitted by ILO

Philippe Mottaz

Nov 30, 2023 • 2 min read

On Tuesday, November 14, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed it had been asked by the Governing Body (GB) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to rule on the highly contentious issue of the right to strike (RTS), which has, for the last decade, pitted the Workers against the Employers at the ILO, in what the GB describes as “a serious and persistent disagreement” among the ILO’s tripartite constituents.

Last Tuesday (November 27), the ICJ confirmed it would take up the case, stating that six organizations would be entitled to furnish the Court with information about the question: the International Organisation of Employers, the International Trade Union Confederation, the World Federation of Trade Unions, the International Cooperative Alliance, the Organization of African Trade Union Unity, and Business Africa. Written statements, the ICJ says, can be submitted until May 16, 2024, and parties will have until September 16 to comment.

The ICJ will have to issue its opinion on a single question:

Is the right to strike of workers and their organizations protected under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87)?

Legal experts spoken to by The G|O expect the ICJ to answer ‘yes,’ and thus rule in favor of the Workers.

The highly complex legal issue revolves around the interpretation of ILO Convention 87, a foundational text that guarantees freedom of association and protection of the right to organize. Ever since its adoption in 1948, the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR)—a highly respected independent body of legal experts—has taken the view that the right to strike is the logical corollary of Convention 87 and flows from it. The interpretation of the CEACR has been integrated into international and national jurisdictions. Freedom of association is also included in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the right to strike is explicitly referred to in Article 8 of the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.