Conclave or detention?  After careful and thoughtful analysis.... or being
asked to write letters ..? do workers have a right to industrial action..?
are all great questions. 

A much greater question in my view is how do we translate the wealth of
knowledge in-house about one's right, the constitution, social justice as
that demonstrated by this FOROYAA article from being "after-the-fact
commentary (aka Monday morning quarter-backing)" to one that empowers the
ordinary man or union leaders to know how to deal with situations like this?
Not trying to blame FOROYAA but the teacher will be deemed in-effective if
students get the concepts only after reviewing test results!

 
Malanding Jaiteh

 

Courtesy of FOROYAA (allfrica.com)

 

 

Gambia: Do Workers Have a Right to Industrial Action?

 

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

EDITORIAL
27 August 2007
Posted to the web 27 August 2007

Leaders of the Maritime and Dockworkers Union have informed Foroyaa that
after being detained by the NIA they have been asked to write letters to
indicate that they have cancelled their threat to take industrial action.

The workers are wondering what the purpose of trade unions are. An emergency
meeting of trade unionists is necessary to discuss their significance,
powers and challenges under the APRC regime.

What the constitution says under section 25 is that every person shall have
the right to freedom of assembly and association which shall include freedom
to form and join associations and unions including political parties and
trade unions.

The Labour Act empowers trade unions to take industrial action if they give
14 days notice to the Commissioner of Labour if it relates to action that
will not interfere with essential services and 28 days notice if the action
may affect essential services.

The purpose of a notice is not to enable government to use the security
apparatus and treat trade unionists like criminals; on the contrary, the
notice provides government with information to determine whether the dispute
is between employees and their representative organisations with the
employers which can be resolved through bargaining in good faith or through
the industrial tribunals or if it pertains to matters that can threaten the
continuation of essential services.

Section 175 of the Labour Act states what types of industrial actions are
illegal as follows:

"(1) The following industrial action shall be deemed to be improper
industrial action and may be prohibited by order of the Supreme Court (now
High Court), on the application of any employer affected

(a) action which is primarily in pursuit of a political object rather than
in contemplation of a trade dispute so that contemplation of a trade dispute
is either no part of the purpose of the action or is only an insignificant
part of that purpose;

(b) action which is in breach of a collectively agreed procedure for the
settlement of trade dispute applicable to the trade dispute in question and
which provides expressly or impliedly in accordance with section 163 of this
Act that procedure shall be exhausted before industrialaection is taken; or

(c) subject to sub section (2), action of which 14 days' notice has not been
given in writing to the Commissioner."

However, during legal industrial action section 173 even gives the workers
power to picket. It reads:

"It shall be lawful for one or more persons, acting on their own behalf or
on behalf of a trade union or of an individual employer in contemplation of
furtherance of a trade dispute, to attend at or near their own place of
employment, or if such persons are officials of the registered trade union
at or near the place of employment of employees whom they represent, if they
so attend merely for the purpose of peacefully persuading any person to work
or abstain from working or to communicate information."

Furthermore, if essential services are to be interfered with section 176
calls for the following actions:

"(1) Where, in the opinion of the President of the Republic, the existence
of industrial action threatens the continuation of any essential service he
may-

(a) appoint a Court of Inquiry to report to him upon the facts of such
dispute and such Court of Inquiry shall report within one week of its
establishment; or

(b) order a return to work and immediately appoint a Board of Arbitration in
accordance with subsection (3).

(2) The report of the Court of Inquiry shall be published in the Gazette
within one week of its submission to the President of the Republic.

(3) If the dispute has not been settled within one week of the publication
of the report of the Court of Inquiry the President shall immediately
appoint a Board of Arbitration whose award shall be made within one week of
appointment and shall be published in the Gazette within three days of its
making and shall be final and binding upon the parties and, where
appropriate to individual terms and conditions of employment, shall be
deemed to be incorporated as terms and conditions of employment of the
employees to whom it applies.

 (4) Any individual action in contemplation or furtherance of the same trade
dispute as gave rise to the action occasioning a threat to the essential
services taken after the appointment of the Court of Inquiry and before the
award of the Board of Arbitration shall be deemed unjustified industrial
action and shall be prohibited without further order of any court and may be
penalised as if it were a contempt of the Supreme Court.


 

 

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