NAGKAISA Welcomes ICJ Opinion: Right to Strike Is Protected, Not Silenced

The biggest labor coalition in the coubtry welcomes the landmark advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice affirming that the right to strike is protected under ILO Convention No. 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise.

By a 10-4 vote, the World Court confirmed what workers have long known: the right to organize must include the right to act together.

In our Constitution, the right to strike is clear, express, and recognized. What is the value of the right to organize and collectively negotiate if workers have no right to strike? It would be like a bell without a sound — visible, perhaps even decorative, but powerless to ring when justice must be heard.

“The right to strike is not a crime, not a tantrum, and not a nuisance. Kaya wag i-redtag ang mga manggagawa exercising collective right to stop eorking due to a labor dispute. It is a democratic safety valve when dialogue breaks down and workers are pushed to the wall,” NAGKAISA Labor Coslition said.

Freedom of association without the right to strike is like a union with a mouth but no voice, a bell with no sound, and a Constitution with labor rights written in ink but denied in practice.

NAGKAISA calls on government and employers to respect workers’ right to organize, collectively bargain, and, when necessary, peacefully strike in defense of discrimination and harassment for organizing union, union busting, wages, dignity, and justice.

Workers are not machines, algorithms, or disposable manpower. When workers ring the bell of justice, the law must not mute the sound.