Australia

"Article 3. Right of organizations to freely organize their activities and to formulate their programmes ..................The Government indicates that no decisions were made under sections 423 and 426, while it provides some examples of decisions taken by the FWC under section 424 either to suspend or terminate protected industrial action or to refuse to issue such an order. Cases concerning the termination or suspension of industrial action included: (a) terminated action in an oil refinery that would cause significant damage to the Western Australian economy estimated at nearly 90 million Australian dollars per day as well as to the Australian economy as a whole; (b) suspension for two months of industrial action by employees of court security and custodial services where the action threatened to endanger the personal safety, health and welfare of part of the population; (c) the suspension in the form of an indefinite ban on a work stoppage in railway transport which threatened to endanger the welfare of a part of the population and threated to cause significant damage to the Sydney economy; and (d) termination of industrial action affecting the Australian Border Force. An application requesting termination of industrial action in independent schools was however refused noting that, while the action was causing “inconvenience”, it was “not as yet causing significant harm”. The Committee appreciates the information transmitted by the Government concerning the practical application of these provisions in the FWA. The Committee notes that some of the services concerned in the cases where industrial action was either suspended or terminated (such as border control, court security and custodial services) may be understood to be essential services in the strict sense of the term or public servants exercising activity in the name of the State where strike action may be restricted. The Committee recalls however that it does not consider oil refinery or railway transport to constitute services in which this right may be fully restricted, although the Government may consider the establishment of negotiated minimum services."