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The Committee notes the Government's report.

It recalls that its previous comments concerned the right of workers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish organizations of their own choosing and the right of organizations to organize their activities and formulate their programmes in full freedom without interference from the public authorities with a view to furthering and defending the interests of their members.

According to the information available to the ILO, the preliminary draft of the Bill respecting the settlement of collective labour disputes would appear to contain certain provisions which are not in accordance with the principles of freedom of association, and particularly the requirement of a majority of two-thirds of the employees in an enterprise to call a strike, the prohibition of strikes in the federal railways, public urban transport and maritime, air and river transport enterprises, the imposition by the Government of a compulsory minimum service during certain strikes, and the power of the President of the Russian Federation and the Government of Russia to suspend a strike for two months if it is of particular significance to the survival of the Russian Federation and its component territories. The Committee recalls that the right to strike is one of the means which should be available to workers and their organizations for the promotion of their economic, social and occupational interests and that the restriction or prohibition of the right to strike should be confined to strikes in the essential services, in the strict sense of the term, that is services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, or if it is liable to cause an acute national crisis, and then only for a limited period and to the extent necessary to meet the requirements of the situation. In the event that a strike is subject to restrictions, compensatory guarantees should be afforded to the workers concerned (see 1994 General Survey, paragraph 164). Finally, with regard to the requirement of a strike ballot, the law should ensure that account is taken only of the votes cast and the required quorum and majority should be fixed at a reasonable level; furthermore, in the event of restrictions on the right to strike in services which are not essential in the strict sense of the term, workers and their organizations should be able, if they so wish, to participate in defining the minimum service, along with employers and the public authorities.

The Committee therefore requests the Government to supply with its next report the legal texts which are being prepared or which have recently been adopted, to which it refers in its report, on the settlement of collective disputes, trade unions and the right of association of citizens. The Committee also requests the Government to state in its next report whether the legislative measures that are being prepared will specifically repeal: the Law on Emergency Powers of 3 April 1990; the Decree of the President of the USSR of 16 May 1990 and section 190(3) of the Penal Code, which contain important restrictions on the right to strike, combined with severe sanctions, including sentences of imprisonment for up to three years; and section 230 of the new Labour Code, as amended on 25 September 1992, which appears to have maintained the system of trade union monopoly at the enterprise level.