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Article 1 of the Convention. Collective bargaining in the public sector. The Government indicates that under article 42, paragraph 1, of the Salary System in the Public Sector Act (ZSPJ), a collective agreement for the public sector shall be concluded when signed by the representative public sector trade unions of at least four different areas of activity with cumulative membership exceeding 40 per cent of the total number of public sector employees. Article 42, paragraph 2, provides that in order to assess the number of trade union members, the Government and the representative trade unions shall agree on the method of membership number evaluation. According to article 8 of the Act on changes and amendments to the Salary System in the Public Sector Act (Ur.l.32/06), in case the Government and trade unions do not agree on the method of membership number evaluation in line with article 42 of the Act before 31 October 2006, it shall be deemed that a collective agreement for the public sector is concluded when signed by a majority of the representative trade unions, irrespective of the provision of the first paragraph of article 42 of the ZSPJ.

According to the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions’ (KSJS) comments, this unilateral 2006 amendment allowed the Government to conclude the collective agreement for the public sector even if signed by a majority of minor trade unions that did not represent more than 10 per cent of the employees in the public sector. The Committee requests the Government to provide its observations thereon.