Substance of the Right to Strike Under International Law: The Right to Strike in Regional Human Rights Law

The conventions and recommendations of the International Labour Organization and the international bill of human rights adopted by the United Nations are the major sources of the right to strike under international law. There are also many regional human rights instruments recognizing the right to strike under international law. Many of these instruments merely provide for the right of workers to associate and form trade unions for the protection of their interests, while others expressly recognize the right to strike. This paper examines the right to strike in regional human rights law in the American, European and African regions. It examines the right to strike in the regional human rights instruments of the Organization of American States, the European Union and the African Union. It suggests that the regional supervisory bodies established to monitor and implement the various regional human rights instruments conferring freedom of association on workers and their unions should develop a consistent body of case law on the right to strike compatible with the case law developed by the ILO supervisory bodies.