ECtHR divided on civil servants' right to strike

Civil servants are not allowed to strike. This is what the European Court of Human Rights has ruled in its Grand Chamber decision on Humpert et al v Germany.

Rudi Buschmann of the DGB Rechtsschutz GmbH (Centre for Revision and European Law), who represented the trade union members in the proceedings in Strasbourg has declared however that there is much more to this decision than this brief statement.

The case concerned the disciplinary sanctions imposed on the applicants, teachers with civil-servant status, for having participated, during their working hours, in strikes organised by their trade union in order to protest against worsening working conditions for teachers.

To access a further analysis of the case and its outcome, as well as more background information on these decisions please refer to the article published (in German) on the DGB's website here.

Below you can also find the Grand Chamber's decision as well as a legal summary of the case.