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Momodou
Denmark
11832 Posts |
 Posted - 28 Aug 2007 : 10:47:56
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Foroyaa Editorial
Do Workers Have a Right to Industrial Action?
Yes Under the Law,
No Under APRC Administration!!
Leaders of the Maritime and Dockworkers Union have informed Foroyaa that after being detained by the NIA they have been asked to write letters to indicate that they have cancelled their threat to take industrial action.
The workers are wondering what the purpose of trade unions are. An emergency meeting of trade unionists is necessary to discuss their significance, powers and challenges under the APRC regime.
What the constitution says under section 25 is that every person shall have the right to freedom of assembly and association which shall include freedom to form and join associations and unions including political parties and trade unions.
The Labour Act empowers trade unions to take industrial action if they give 14 days notice to the Commissioner of Labour if it relates to action that will not interfere with essential services and 28 days notice if the action may affect essential services.
The purpose of a notice is not to enable government to use the security apparatus and treat trade unionists like criminals; on the contrary, the notice provides government with information to determine whether the dispute is between employees and their representative organisations with the employers which can be resolved through bargaining in good faith or through the industrial tribunals or if it pertains to matters that can threaten the continuation of essential services.
Section 175 of the Labour Act states what types of industrial actions are illegal as follows:
"(1) The following industrial action shall be deemed to be improper industrial action and may be prohibited by order of the Supreme Court (now High Court), on the application of any employer affected
(a) action which is primarily in pursuit of a political object rather than in contemplation of a trade dispute so that contemplation of a trade dispute is either no part of the purpose of the action or is only an insignificant part of that purpose;
(b) action which is in breach of a collectively agreed procedure for the settlement of trade dispute applicable to the trade dispute in question and which provides expressly or impliedly in accordance with section 163 of this Act that procedure shall be exhausted before industrialaection is taken; or
(c) subject to sub section (2), action of which 14 days' notice has not been given in writing to the Commissioner."
However, during legal industrial action section 173 even gives the workers power to picket. It reads:
"It shall be lawful for one or more persons, acting on their own behalf or on behalf of a trade union or of an individual employer in contemplation of furtherance of a trade dispute, to attend at or near their own place of employment, or if such persons are officials of the registered trade union at or near the place of employment of employees whom they represent, if they so attend merely for the purpose of peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working or to communicate information."
Furthermore, if essential services are to be interfered with section 176 calls for the following actions:
"(1) Where, in the opinion of the President of the Republic, the existence of industrial action threatens the continuation of any essential service he may-
(a) appoint a Court of Inquiry to report to him upon the facts of such dispute and such Court of Inquiry shall report within one week of its establishment; or
(b) order a return to work and immediately appoint a Board of Arbitration in accordance with subsection (3).
(2) The report of the Court of Inquiry shall be published in the Gazette within one week of its submission to the President of the Republic.
(3) If the dispute has not been settled within one week of the publication of the report of the Court of Inquiry the President shall immediately appoint a Board of Arbitration whose award shall be made within one week of appointment and shall be published in the Gazette within three days of its making and shall be final and binding upon the parties and, where appropriate to individual terms and conditions of employment, shall be deemed to be incorporated as terms and conditions of employment of the employees to whom it applies.
(4) Any individual action in contemplation or furtherance of the same trade dispute as gave rise to the action occasioning a threat to the essential services taken after the appointment of the Court of Inquiry and before the award of the Board of Arbitration shall be deemed unjustified industrial action and shall be prohibited without further order of any court and may be penalised as if it were a contempt of the Supreme Court.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issue
Issue No. 100/2007, 27 - 28 August 2007
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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