Unione sindacale di base (USB) v. Italy

The ETUC has submitted a III party intervention in support of Italian trade union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB)'s collective complaint against Italy on the right to strike. The text of the intervention is annexed below.

The complaint regards Article 6§4 (right to collective bargaining) of the Revised Social Charter (the Charter) and has been lodged by the trade union Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) on 31 March 2022. In its complaint, the USB alleges that the restrictions on the exercise of the right to strike in essential public services contained in the provisions of Law No. 146 of 12 June 1990 are in breach of Article 6§4 of the Charter inter alia, because they impose an obligation during a strike to provide "indispensable services" in addition to those necessary to guarantee "minimum services".

The alleged breach of Article 6§4 is based on the assumption that the compulsory period of notice, together with compulsory reflection and conciliation procedures, are excessive and unreasonable and thus undermine the dissuasive effect of the strike. Furthermore, the USB alleges that the wide discretionary power granted to the administrative authority in the exercise of the power to postpone strikes and/or issue warnings under Article 8 of Law No. 46/1990 is likely, in practice, to exclude and render ineffective the exercise of the right to strike.

The full text of the complaint can be found here and attached below.

More information on collective complaints can be found here.