Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1997, publiée 86ème session CIT (1998)

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government's report.

In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that, under section 4 of the Better Security Act of 1920 (Chapter 160), any person who wilfully breaks a contract of service or employment knowing that he or she may thus endanger real or personal property is liable to three months' imprisonment or a fine. The Committee had recalled that, if this provision was applicable in the event of a strike, it should be amended so that such penalties could only be imposed with respect to essential services in the strict sense of the term, namely those whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of whole or part of the population and that the sanctions should not be disproportionate to the seriousness of the violations.

The Committee notes that, although the Government has been indicating its intention to amend the Better Security Act since 1984, the Government has once again indicated in its latest report that no amendment has been made in this respect. The Committee therefore once again asks the Government to indicate, in its next report, the measures taken or envisaged to bring section 4 of the Better Security Act into conformity with the principles of freedom of association and to state whether this provision has been invoked in recent years.