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The Committee notes the Government’s report. The Committee has been referring for a number of years to the need to amend various sections of the Industrial Relations Act, as amended, so as to: (1) enable a simple majority of the workers in a bargaining unit (excluding those workers not taking part in the vote) to call a strike (section 59(4)(a)); (2) ensure that any recourse to the courts by the Ministry of Labour or by one party only to end a strike is limited to cases of strikes in essential services in the strict sense of the term (sections 61 and 65); (3) ensure that prohibition of industrial action in essential services is limited to cases of strike in essential services in the strict sense of the term (section 67); and (4) repeal the prohibition of industrial action, under penalty of 18 months’ imprisonment, for the teaching service and employees of the Central Bank (section 69).

The Committee notes that the Government has sought the views of the social partners on its observations through a tripartite committee established in 1996 to give effect to ILO Convention No. 144. It notes that the parties have: (1) agreed that a legal assessment of the implications of amending section 59(4)(a) of the Act was required for a position to be taken; (2) concurred with the Committee’s view as regards sections 61 and 65; (3) agreed that the public school bus service should be excluded from the list of essential services (the workers’ group did not consider any of the services listed in the second schedule of the Act as essential services in the strict sense of the term); and (4) diverged as regards section 69 (the workers’ representative supported the amendment of that section whereas the Government and employers’ representatives wanted further information on the practice in other countries, in particular those of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)). The Committee also notes that the social partners have agreed to refer further consideration of amendment to the Industrial Relations Act to the Standing Tripartite Committee on Labour Matters which will be required to examine the request of the Committee to amend the various sections of the Act. However, this Standing Tripartite Committee is to be reconstituted given the expiration of its term on December 2006.

The Committee expresses the hope that concrete measures will be taken in the near future to amend the legislation so as to bring it into conformity with the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report any progress made in this respect.