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With reference to its observation, the Committee notes that section 19 of the Act on the procedure for the settlement of collective labour disputes (hereinafter, the Act) provides that a decision to declare a strike must be supported by a majority of the workers or two-thirds of those participating in a strike ballot. The Committee recalls in this regard that the majority required for a strike ballot should not be such that the exercise of the right to strike becomes very difficult or even impossible in practice. Any such legislative requirements should therefore ensure that account is taken only of the votes cast and the required majority should be fixed at a reasonable level (see 1994 General Survey on freedom of association and collective bargaining, paragraph 170). The Committee trusts that the application of the Act in practice will ensure that this principle is taken into account.

Furthermore, the Committee notes that section 24 of the Act prohibits strikes where the cessation of work creates a threat to the lives and health of people or to the environment, or impedes the prevention of natural calamities, accidents, disasters, epidemics and epizootics or the elimination of their consequences. The Committee recalls that the prohibition of strikes should be restricted to essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely those the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of whole or part of the population. The Committee therefore requests the Government to confirm in its next report that the reference to threats to the environment in section 24 is limited to cases where such a threat would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the population.