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Press-release
On October 24, the Ukranian
Constitutional Court published its Decision of October 18,
2000 relating to the Constitutional grievances of 183 Peoples
Deputies of Ukraine and the Supreme Rada Ombudsman on Human
Rights on the compliance of Articles 8,11,and 16 of the
Ukranian Law “On Trade Unions, Their Rights and Guarantees
of Their Activities” to the Ukranian Constitution.
The authors of the grievances maintain that
Articles 11 and 16 of the Ukranian Law “On Trade Unions,
Their Rights, and Guarantees of Their Activities” is in
conflict to Article 36, Section 3, of the Ukranian
Constitution, containing provisions on establishing trade
unions without prior permission and on the basis of free
choice of their members, in compliance with the International
Pact on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as with
the ILO Convention #87 on the Freedom of Associations and
Protection of the Right to Organise.
Besides, the Ukranian People’s Deputies
refer to the fact that Article 11 of the Law relating to trade
unions’ status, as well as Article 8 relating to trade union
federations’ status, contradict Article 22 of the
Constitution, as they break the status quo of trade unions and
their federations in the part dealing with mandatory
confirmation of their status when being legalised.
Having considered presentations of S.
Yatsenko, Judge-Speaker, explanations of the concerned parties,
as well as factual evidence to the case, the Constitutional
Court has ruled:
1. To recognise as non complying to the
Constitution of Ukraine (as non-constitutional) the following
provisions of Article 11 of the Ukranian law “On Trade
Unions, Their Rights and Guarantees of Their Activities” as
imposing restrictions on the freedom of associations:
1.1.provision that makes it impossible to
form an independent trade union at a separate enterprise,
institution, or organisation, without observing conditions
stipulated in Part 2, in accordance to which “only those
unions which incorporate at least three shop-floor
organisations, or have at least nine union members employed
at different enterprises, institutions, or organisations”
may be granted a local status;
1.2. the provision in accordance to which
a numeric criterion- “majority” - is set up in order to
organise union members working in the given occupation or
trade in Oblasts, cities of Kiev and Sebastopol (Part 3),
and working in the given occupation or trade in Ukraine, in
a union having an appropriate status (Part 5, par. 3);
1.3. the provision establishing a minimum
number - at least one third - in order to organise union
members of the sector, or union members of the trade or
occupation, in a union with an All-Ukranian status(Part 5,
par.2).
2. To recognise as incompatible with the
Ukranian Constitution - non-constitutional - the provisions of
Article 16 of the Ukranian law “On Trade Unions, Their
Rights and Guarantees of Their Activities” in the part
establishing such conditions of trade union legalisation,
which in practice relate the beginning of a trade union
functioning, as an organisation protecting workers’ rights,
to its registration with the competent agencies, which in fact
is equal to a prior permission requirement.
3. To recognise as compatible with the
Ukranian Constitution - constitutional - provisions of
Articles 8,11,and 16 (except those provisions that have been
considered non-constitutional) of the Ukranian Law “On Trade
Unions, Their Rights and Guarantees of Their Activities”.
4. Provisions of Articles 11, 16 of the
Ukranian Law “On Trade Unions, Their Rights and Guarantees
of Their Activities” have been recognised non-constitutional
and expire beginning with the date of this Decision ’s
passing by the Constitutional Court.
5. The Decisions of the Constitutional Court
of Ukraine are compulsory for execution on the territory of
Ukraine; they are final and are not subject of appeals.
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