Preamble
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its Fifty-first Session on 7 June 1967, and
Noting the terms of existing international labour Recommendations dealing with various
aspects of labour-management relations, and in particular the Collective Agreements
Recommendation, 1951, the Voluntary Conciliation and Arbitration Recommendation, 1951,
the Co-operation at the Level of the Undertaking Recommendation, 1952, and the
Termination of Employment Recommendation, 1963, and
Considering that additional standards are called for, and
Noting the terms of the Communications within the Undertaking Recommendation, 1967,
and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the examination of
grievances within the undertaking, which is included in the fifth item on the agenda of
the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of a Recommendation,
adopts this twenty-ninth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and
sixty-seven, the following Recommendation, which may be cited as the Examination of
Grievances Recommendation, 1967:
I. Methods of Implementation
- 1. Effect may be given to this Recommendation through national
laws or regulations, collective agreements, works rules, or arbitration
awards, or in such other manner consistent with national practice as may
be appropriate under national conditions.
II. General Principles
- 2. Any worker who, acting individually or jointly with other
workers, considers that he has grounds for a grievance should have the
right--
- (a) to submit such grievance without suffering any prejudice
whatsoever as a result; and
- (b) to have such grievance examined pursuant to an appropriate
procedure.
- 3. The grounds for a grievance may be any measure or situation
which concerns the relations between employer and worker or which
affects or may affect the conditions of employment of one or several
workers in the undertaking when that measure or situation appears
contrary to provisions of an applicable collective agreement or of an
individual contract of employment, to works rules, to laws or
regulations or to the custom or usage of the occupation, branch of
economic activity or country, regard being had to principles of good
faith.
- 4.
- (1) The provisions of this Recommendation are not applicable to
collective claims aimed at the modification of terms and
conditions of employment.
- (2) The determination of the distinction between cases in which
a complaint submitted by one or more workers is a grievance to
be examined under the procedures provided for in this
Recommendation and cases in which a complaint is a general claim
to be dealt with by means of collective bargaining or under some
other procedure for settlement of disputes is a matter for
national law or practice.
- 5. When procedures for the examination of grievances are
established through collective agreements, the parties to such an
agreement should be encouraged to include therein a provision to the
effect that, during the period of its validity, they undertake to
promote settlement of grievances under the procedures provided and to
abstain from any action which might impede the effective functioning of
these procedures.
- 6. Workers' organisations or the representatives of the
workers in the undertaking should be associated, with equal rights and
responsibilities, with the employers or their organisations, preferably
by way of agreement, in the establishment and implementation of
grievance procedures within the undertaking, in conformity with national
law or practice.
- 7.
- (1) With a view to minimising the number of grievances, the
greatest attention should be given to the establishment and
proper functioning of a sound personnel policy, which should
take into account and respect the rights and interests of the
workers.
- (2) In order to achieve such a policy and to solve social
questions affecting the workers within the undertaking,
management should, before taking a decision, co-operate with the
workers' representatives.
- 8. As far as possible, grievances should be settled within the
undertaking itself according to effective procedures which are adapted
to the conditions of the country, branch of economic activity and
undertaking concerned and which give the parties concerned every
assurance of objectivity.
- 9. None of the provisions of this Recommendation should result
in limiting the right of a worker to apply directly to the competent
labour authority or to a labour court or other judicial authority in
respect of a grievance, where such right is recognised under national
laws or regulations.
III. Procedures within the Undertaking
- 10.
- (1) As a general rule an attempt should initially be made to
settle grievances directly between the worker affected, whether
assisted or not, and his immediate supervisor.
- (2) Where such attempt at settlement has failed or where the
grievance is of such a nature that a direct discussion between
the worker affected and his immediate supervisor would be
inappropriate, the worker should be entitled to have his case
considered at one or more higher steps, depending on the nature
of the grievance and on the structure and size of the
undertaking.
- 11. Grievance procedures should be so formulated and applied
that there is a real possibility of achieving at each step provided for
by the procedure a settlement of the case freely accepted by the worker
and the employer.
- 12. Grievance procedures should be as uncomplicated and as
rapid as possible, and appropriate time limits may be prescribed if
necessary for this purpose; formality in the application of these
procedures should be kept to a minimum.
- 13.
- (1) The worker concerned should have the right to participate
directly in the grievance procedure and to be assisted or
represented during the examinations of his grievance by a
representative of a workers' organisation, by a representative
of the workers in the undertaking, or by any other person of his
own choosing, in conformity with national law or practice.
- (2) The employer should have the right to be assisted or
represented by an employers' organisation.
- (3) Any person employed in the same undertaking who assists or
represents the worker during the examination of his grievance
should, on condition that he acts in conformity with the
grievance procedure, enjoy the same protection as that enjoyed
by the worker under Paragraph 2, clause (a), of this
Recommendation.
- 14. The worker concerned, or his representative if the latter
is employed in the same undertaking, should be allowed sufficient time
to participate in the procedure for the examination of the grievance and
should not suffer any loss of remuneration because of his absence from
work as a result of such participation, account being taken of any rules
and practices, including safeguards against abuses, which might be
provided for by legislation, collective agreements or other appropriate
means.
- 15. If the parties consider it necessary, minutes of the
proceedings may be drawn up in mutual agreement and be available to the
parties.
- 16.
- (1) Appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that
grievance procedures, as well as the rules and practices
governing their operation and the conditions for having recourse
to them, are brought to the knowledge of the workers.
- (2) Any worker who has submitted a grievance should be kept
informed of the steps being taken under the procedure and of the
action taken on his grievance.
IV. Adjustment of Unsettled Grievances
- 17. Where all efforts to settle the grievance within the
undertaking have failed, there should be a possibility, account being
taken of the nature of the grievance, for final settlement of such
grievance through one or more of the following procedures:
- (a) procedures provided for by collective agreement, such as
joint examination of the case by the employers' and workers'
organisations concerned or voluntary arbitration by a person or
persons designated with the agreement of the employer and worker
concerned or their respective organisations;
- (b) conciliation or arbitration by the competent public
authorities;
- (c) recourse to a labour court or other judicial authority;
- (d) any other procedure which may be appropriate under national
conditions.
- 18.
- (1) The worker should be allowed the time off necessary to take
part in the procedures referred to in Paragraph 17 of this
Recommendation.
- (2) Recourse by the worker to any of the procedures provided for
in Paragraph 17 should not involve for him any loss of
remuneration when his grievance is proved justified in the
course of these procedures. Every effort should be made, where
possible, for the operation of these procedures outside the
working hours of the workers concerned.
