Latvia - 2011

Background

Latvia was one of the countries worst hit by the global financial crisis with unemployment rising to more than 22% and GDP dropping 18% in 2009. As a result the government has continued to implement wide-ranging austerity measures backed by the International Monetary Fund, involving large cuts in wages and in public expenditure. The centre-right coalition government led by the Unity party leader Vladimir Dombrovkis was nonetheless re-elected in parliamentary elections in October 2010.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Riga

reported violations- 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Trade union rights in law

Certain limitations apply despite basic trade union rights being guaranteed in the Constitution. Every union must have at least 50 members, or not less than one quarter of the workers employed in the unit, profession or sector. Collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
is recognised except for special service ranks in the Ministry of the Interior and Prison Administration, however there is little scope to bargain on employment conditions in the public administration. The right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike is restricted as the decision to initiate strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike action must be taken by a three-quarters’ majority at a quorum where ¾ of the employees or members are present. Furthermore, solidarity strikes are illegal unless the dispute concerns a sectoral level collective agreement, and political strikes are prohibited. Some categories of workers are unduly excluded from the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , and the list of “essential services essential services Services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population. Can include the hospital sector, electricity and water supply services, and air traffic control. Strikes can be restricted or even prohibited in essential services.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework
 ”, in which a minimum service minimum service The operations needed in a public or private establishment during a strike, normally to avoid compromising the life or basic needs of the population or causing irreversible damages.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework must be established, is somewhat too elaborate.
Additional information regarding the legislation
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Riga

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

In practice

Collective bargaining hampered: The law “On the Remuneration of State and Local Government Institutions Officials and Employees” has created problems for collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
agents in the public sector, since it outlaws all monetary benefits under collective agreements unless they are directly provided by law. Some public employers also refuse to bargain collectively.
Harsh economic climate results in non-reporting of anti-union activities: Unofficially, there have been many reported cases on employers spreading anti-union propaganda and cases of dismissal and demotion or relocation of activists who plan to establish a trade union in an enterprise or of existing trade union representatives in order to break trade union activity. However, these cases have no official evidence and the dismissal or relocation of workers is always supported by contrasting evidence demonstrating the guilt of the employees. In the current economic climate with high unemployment, employees often opt to be silent in order not to lose their jobs. These cases are mostly reported in the trade union branches in the wood manufacturing, civil aviation and industry sectors.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Riga

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Violations

Educationalist unfairly relieved of her duties: The Rezekne division of the Education and Science Workers Trade Union (ESTWU) became embroiled in a dispute when the local education authority tried to dismiss the headteacher of Rezekne secondary school Nr.4. In May the ESTWU refused to agree to his dismissal and subsequently the local authority attempted to put pressure on the union. This took the form of refusing to transfer union subscriptions from the salaries of its employers. In addition, Janina Staudza, chair of the ESTWU in Rezekne, was unilaterally relieved of her duties as chief education methodologist at the Rezekne Education Board and lost free use of premises to carry out her union work.
No collective bargaining for the police: In 2010, the Unite Trade Union of Policemen sought a collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
agreement, but this was rejected. It was argued that the police are in the civil service rather than in a contract of employment and thus any provisions for collective agreement are not applicable.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958)
Population: 2,200,000
Capital: Riga

reported violations - 2011

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
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