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The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that statutory restrictions on the right to strike in the UK do not infringe the right to freedom of association under Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In the case of National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers v UK [2014] ECHR 366, the trade union claimed that requirements for organising a strike ballot and a ban on secondary strike action (strike action against a different employer aimed at indirectly pressurising the employer in an industrial dispute) infringed the right to the freedom of association. The ECtHR disagreed, finding that the restrictions did not disproportionality effect the Union's right to strike. Although the Court found that the right to strike is protected under the freedom of association, the ban on secondary action under section 224 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 was sufficiently prescribed by law and pursued the legitimate aim of protecting the rights and freedoms of employers. The wider interests of the domestic economy and the public who would potentially be affected by the disruption of secondary industrial action, which could be on a larger scale than primary strike action, were also being protected.
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