Banana Link welcomes the advisory opinion issued on May 21 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirming that the right to strike is protected under International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize.
For millions of workers around the world, the right to strike is not an abstract legal principle. It is often the only effective means to defend wages, health and safety, dignity, and justice at work. The ICJ decision will be particularly welcomed by plantation workers in those Latin American countries where trade union activity is repressed, strikes are met with violence, and trade union organisers face threats to their personal safety for simply trying to organise workers, to defend the labour and human rights to which plantation workers are legally entitled.
The ICJ ruling sends a clear and authoritative message: the rights of workers to organise, act collectively, and withdraw their labour are fundamental rights protected under international law.
In welcoming the decision, the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) said:
“The ruling is also a reaffirmation of the authority and relevance of the ILO and its supervisory system. Attempts to weaken long-established international labour standards have now been firmly rejected by the highest judicial body of the United Nations system.”
While ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said
“We thank the world court for this advisory opinion. The Court has confirmed that international law supports the longstanding understanding shared not only by unions, but across large parts of the ILO system for decades.”
Banana Link Project Co-ordinator Fabrice Warneck said:
“Banana Link maintains that social dialogue between workers and employers is an essential means of finding fair solutions at company and sectoral levels. The Court’s reaffirmation that the right to strike falls within the scope of freedom of association is crucial, as without the right to strike, collective bargaining would be strongly undermined, even if strike action is seen as a last resort by most trade unions in the banana sector. This decision is welcome as it will help ensure the long-term future of collective bargaining to the benefit of all.”
Jeffrey Vogt, Rule of Law Director at the Solidarity Center and Co Founder and Chair of the International Lawyers Assisting Workers Network (ILAW), in a detailed legal breakdown of the case, explains that
“As worker rights are under attack worldwide, the legal and moral clarity of the (ICJ) opinion is a very welcome development” and “a national legal regime that prohibits the strike, or subjects it to disproportionate restriction, can now be challenged.“
