Brussels, 12/04/2007
This decision follows from a collective complaint submitted in 2005 jointly by ETUC, Podkrepa and CITUB after the refusal of the Bulgarian government to broaden the right to strike of civil servants in general as well as to repeal the absolute ban of strikes by workers in the communications and health sector.
The ECSR's decision, which was now made public, concludes that the currently applicable Bulgarian laws providing for:
- a general ban of the right to strike in the electricity, healthcare
and communications sectors,
- too strict restrictions to the right to strike in the railway sector,
- and allowing civil servants only to engage in symbolic action and prohibiting them from collectively withdrawing their labour
constitute a clear cut violation of the fundamental right to strike as contained in Article 6§4 of the Revised Social Charter.
“Our complaint has now gone beyond “a constructive criticism” in the debate on the amendments to Bulgarian law as the government described it earlier on,” said John Monks, ETUC General Secretary. “The ETUC insists that the Bulgarian government fully aligns its legislation with this decision and lives up to all the obligations it has under the Revised Social Charter,” he added.
The decision can be downloaded from: http://www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/esc/4_collective_complaints/list_of_collective_complaints/MeritsRC32_en.pdf