Collective Dispute and Conciliation Procedures
Under the Labour Code, a collective dispute — a dispute between an employer and a group of employees (at least 20 employees) or between an employer and an association of employees — must be resolved through conciliation procedures: direct negotiations or mediation, where one of the parties sends a respective written notice to the minister. A party sends the other party a notice indicating precisely the ground of origin of the dispute and its demands; at any stage of the negotiations the appointment of a mediator may be requested. The mediator is appointed by the minister, who in the case of a high public interest may act on his or her own initiative without an application by a party. The parties are obliged to participate in the procedures, and at any stage of the dispute it may be referred to arbitration; the mediator must not disclose information that became known to him or her in that capacity. The conciliation stage is thus the mandatory gateway through which every collective labour dispute must pass before more confrontational instruments become available.
The Legal Regime of Strike and Lockout
A strike is the temporary voluntary refusal of an employee, in the case of a dispute, to perform fully or partly the obligations under the employment contract, and a lockout is the analogous refusal of the employer. The right to strike or lockout arises upon the expiry of 21 calendar days from the sending of the written notice to the minister or from the appointment of the mediator by the minister. No later than 3 calendar days before commencement the parties notify each other and the minister in writing of the time, place, nature and number of participants. During a strike or lockout the conciliation procedures continue, the employer is not obliged to pay remuneration for this period, and a lockout may not last more than 90 calendar days. A strike or lockout is not a ground for the termination of the employment relationship. These rules give both instruments a clearly bounded field: the pressure is lawful only within the corridor of completed procedures and observed deadlines.