Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) - India (Ratification: 2000)

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Article 1(d). Sanctions for participating in strikes. In relation to the Essential Services Maintenance Act (KESMA), 1994, which establishes sanctions of imprisonment that may involve compulsory labour for participation and instigation to participate in strikes in essential services considered as illegal (sections 4 and 5 of the Act), the Committee recalls that the prohibition of strikes laid down in these provisions goes well beyond the concept of essential services in the strict sense of the term, as it gives the state government wide discretionary powers to declare any service under the Government to be essential for the purposes of the Act, or if the Government is of the opinion that strikes therein would prejudicially affect the maintenance of any public utility service or would result in the infliction of grave hardship on the community (section 2(1) of the Act). The Committee notes the Government’s repeated statement that it is awaiting a response from the state government of Kerala, in that respect. The Committee recalls that, in all cases and regardless of the legality of the strike action, the Convention prohibits the imposition of compulsory labour, including compulsory prison labour, on persons peacefully organizing or participating in a strike. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure, both in law and in practice, that no sanction involving compulsory labour can be imposed for the mere fact of peacefully participating in strikes. Pending the adoption of such measures, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of sections 2(1), 4 and 5 of the KESMA, including on relevant court decisions, specifying the penalties applied, as well as copies of the state government’s orders prohibiting strikes.