Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

The Committee takes note of the information contained in the Government’s report and notes with interest the adoption of Act No. 13 of 2002 entitled "An Act to amend the Labour Relations and Industrial Disputes Act".

With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that Act No. 13 of 2002 amended the First Schedule of the Labour and Industrial Disputes Act No. 14 of 1975, as amended (hereinafter "the Act") by deleting from the list of services deemed to be essential the following services: public passenger transport services; telephone services; any business whose main functions consisted in the issue and redemption of currency, the issue and redemption of Government Securities and the trading in such securities, management of the official reserves of the country, administration of exchange control and providing banking services to the Government; air transport services for the carriage of passengers, baggage, mail or cargo destined to or from Jamaica or within Jamaica. The Committee requests the Government to transmit, with its next report, the list of essential services remaining on the first schedule following this recent amendment.

As regards the power of the Minister to refer an industrial dispute to arbitration, the Committee recalls its previous observation concerning the need to amend sections 9 (in the case services not considered as essential in the strict sense of the term are still included on the list), 10 and 11A of the Act, which empower the Minister to submit an industrial dispute to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal and hence to terminate any strike. The Committee has commented for a number of years that the Minister’s powers to refer an industrial dispute to compulsory arbitration are too broad and that the notion "a strike which is likely to be gravely injurious to the national interest" (section 10) can be interpreted very widely. In its latest report, the Government reiterates its previous comment, stating that the Committee’s concern has been noted and that this section is still in process of revision.

The Committee once again recalls the need to amend sections 9, 10 and 11A of the Act which provide the Minister with extensive power to refer an industrial dispute to the Tribunal and reiterates that compulsory arbitration should be limited to essential services or situations of acute national crisis; otherwise, recourse to compulsory arbitration should only be possible at the request of both parties to the dispute. The Committee requests that the Government indicate in its next report any progress made in this regard and provide copies of any draft texts proposed to amend the legislation on the abovementioned points.