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The Committee takes note of the Government's report.

1. Articles 3 and 10 of the Convention. Right of organizations to organize their activities freely and to formulate their programme of action without interference from the public authorities, in order to promote and defend the interests of their members.

(a) The Committee notes that the legislation still contains severe restrictions on the right of organizations to strike in order to defend the occupational interests of the workers (section 11 of the Law on the Settlement of Collective Labour Disputes of 9 October 1989 which prohibits strikes, in particular, in the urban rail transport sector including the Metro, civil aviation and the energy sector; the Law on Emergency Powers of 3 April 1990; section 5 of the Decree of the President of the USSR of 16 May 1991 on emergency measures to guarantee work stability in the branches of activity essential to the national economy, which allows strikes to be banned and severe penalties to be imposed, including fines for breaches of labour discipline and penalties of imprisonment of up to three years (section 14 of the Law of 9 October 1989; the Law on Emergency Powers of 3 April 1990; section 5(2) of the Decree of the President of the USSR of 16 May 1991; section 190(3) of the Penal Code).

The Committee is of the opinion that the restriction or prohibition of the right to strike should be confined to essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population (see 1994 General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining, para, 159). The Committee asks the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken or envisaged to bring section 11 of the Law on the Settlement of Collective Labour Disputes of 9 October 1989 into conformity with the above principle, so as to ensure that the legislation on emergency powers is not applied in such a way as to impair the principles of freedom of association in respect of the right to strike.

(b) With regard to certain other provisions concerning the exercise of the right to strike (sections 3, 7, 9 and 15 of the Law of 9 October 1989 on the Settlement of Collective Labour Disputes), the Committee asks the Government in its next report to provide detailed answers to the questions it raised under point 2 of its Direct Request of 1991.

2. Article 2. Right of Workers, without distinction whatsoever, to form organizations of their own choosing.

(a) The Committee asks the Government to indicate in its next report whether the Law on Trade Unions of 10 December 1990 applies to all workers without distinction as to nationality.

(b) The Committe has pointed out for many years that several provisions of the Labour Code, including section 230, which governed the rights of local factory or works trade union committees and their relations with the management of an enterprise, establishment or organization, were inconsistent with the requirements of Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes that the Act of 25 September 1992 amends section 230 and provides that "the rights of the locally elected trade union body in the enterprise, institution or organization and the guarantees of its activities are defined in the law, statutes, agreements and collective agreements". In these circumstances, the Committee considers that new section 230 seems to maintain trade union unity in enterprises. It draws the Government's attention to the importance that it attaches to the principle whereby minority organizations should be allowed to function and at least have the right to make representations on behalf of their members and to represent them in the case of individual grievances (see 1994 General Survey, op. cit., para. 98), and asks the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken to guarantee the right of workers to join organizations of their own choosing.