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Celebrating
50 years of the European Social Charter
13
July 2011
Fifty years since its
adoption in 1961, the European Social Charter remains one
of the most important documents on human rights and freedoms.
The European Social Charter
was the first international treaty to contain explicit guarantees
on the right to organise and bargain collectively.
Not to be confused with
the European Convention on Human Rights which guarantees civil
and political human rights, the European Social Charter complements
the European Convention by guaranteeing, in addition, social
and economic rights. It is significant because it was the
first international treaty to officially recognise the fundamental
human right to strike.
Despite a Tory Government
signing up to the Social Charter in 1961, the social rights
committee that monitors compliance have repeatedly criticised
successive governments over their failure to protect the right
to strike in the UK.
Fifty years of the European
Social Charter marks an impressive milestone in the fight
for fundamental human rights, but with UK trade union laws
amongst the most restrictive in Europe, the fight must continue
for the Charter to be properly recognised in UK law.
Article
5 - the right to organise
With a view
to ensuring or promoting the freedom of workers and employers
to form local, national or international organisations for
the protection of their economic and social interests and
to join those organisations, the Contracting Parties undertake
that national law shall not be such as to impair, nor shall
it be so applied as to impair, this freedom. The extent to
which the guarantees provided for in this article shall apply
to the police shall be determined by national laws or regulations.
The principle governing the application to the members of
the armed forces of these guarantees and the extent to which
they shall apply to persons in this category shall equally
be determined by national laws or regulations.
Article 6
- the right to Bargain collectively
With a view
to ensuring the effective exercise of the right to bargain
collectively, the Contracting Parties undertake:
- to promote
joint consultation between workers and employers;
- to promote,
where necessary and appropriate, machinery for voluntary
negotiations between employers or employers' organisations
and workers' organisations, with a view to the regulation
of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective
agreements;
- to promote
the establishment and use of appropriate machinery for conciliation
and voluntary arbitration for the settlement of labour disputes;
and recognise:
- the right
of workers and employers to collective action in cases of
conflicts of interest, including the right to strike, subject
to obligations that might arise out of collective agreements
previously entered into.
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