Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

The Committee notes with regret that once more the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request on the following points:

1. Article 1(c) and (d) of the Convention. In earlier comments, the Committee noted that, under sections 128 and 130 of the 1976 Merchant Shipping Act, various breaches of labour discipline are punishable with imprisonment (involving, under section 10 of the Prisons Act and rules 76 and 95 of the Prison Rules, an obligation to work). The Committee also noted that section 134 of the 1976 Act provides for the forcible return of deserters to ships registered in another country provided the Minister is satisfied that reciprocal arrangements will be made in that country. The Committee had noted the Government's indication to the 1988 Conference Committee that the Legal Officers would be consulted as to how the necessary amendments can be made and that, meanwhile, the provisions in question are not applied. The Committee trusts again that the action required will thus soon be taken to bring merchant shipping law into conformity with the Convention and that the Government will indicate the measures taken to this effect.

2. Article 1(d). In earlier comments, the Committee noted that, under section 73 of the 1970 Industrial Relations Act, the Minister may refer a dispute which is not in an essential service to the Industrial Relations Board for settlement if he considers that a strike which is in progress affects or threatens the public interest; any worker who continues to participate in such a strike is liable to a punishment of imprisonment involving an obligation to perform labour. The Committee noted the Government's communication to the 1988 Conference Committee that the Industrial Relations Act was up for review in the Legal Department, which is also considering provisions as to recognition, strikes, lock-outs, and that section 73 will be reconsidered in this context. Since the Government has undertaken for a number of years to review sections 72 and 73 of the Act, the Committee again expresses the hope that the necessary amendments will soon be adopted to ensure both in law and in practice that compulsory arbitration, when enforced by sanctions involving compulsory labour, be limited to services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, and that the Government would indicate the action taken.

3. In earlier comments, the Committee noted that, under section 72 of the Industrial Relations Act, participation in a strike is punishable with imprisonment, inter alia, if the strike has any object other than or in addition to the furtherance of a trade dispute within the trade or industry in which the strikers are engaged or if it is designed or calculated to coerce the Government either directly or by inflicting severe hardship on the community. The Committee also referred to paragraph 128 of its 1979 General Survey, in which it indicates that the prohibition of purely political strikes lies outside the scope of the Convention, but that restrictions on the right to engage in strikes should not apply to matters of a broader economic and social nature affecting the occupational interests of workers. The Committee noted that although there had been recent strikes in furtherance of trade disputes no one had been imprisoned under section 72 of the Act. The Committee noted the indication give by the Government to the 1988 Conference Committee that section 72 is impossible to apply in practice. The Committee accordingly expresses again the hope that the review of the Act announced by the Government for a number of years will soon result in the amendment of section 72, and that the Government will indicate the measures taken to this end. Pending amendment of the Act, the Government is again requested to continue to supply information on any cases of practical application of sections 72 and 73 of the Industrial Relations Act.