A strike is a part of trade union freedoms! A landmark ruling by the International Court of Justice.

The ICJ ruling coincided with the 35th anniversary of the enactment of the Act on the Resolution of Collective Disputes of May 23, 1991—the most restrictive legislation governing strikes in the entire European Union, with its origins in the era of martial law in the Polish People’s Republic.

The text was originally published on May 23, 2026, on the website ozzip.pl.

On May 21, 2026, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion, establishing that a strike—defined as a refusal to work—is protected under International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention No. 87 concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise. Poland ratified this convention in 1957. The ICJ’s opinion implies that the strike is one of the freedoms associated with trade union activity, and that its regulation is governed exclusively by the internal statutes and bylaws of the trade union itself.

In accordance with Article 3.1 of the Convention, under the chapter on Freedom of Association:

“Workers’ and employers’ organizations shall have the right to draw up their constitutions and internal rules, to freely elect their representatives, to organize their administration and activities, and to formulate their programmes of action.”

In its judgment of May 21, 2026, the ICJ held that a strike is one of the forms of activity protected by this provision. The role of the state should be limited to providing legal guarantees for the safety of workers in exercising their trade union freedoms. Furthermore, in accordance with Article 3.2:

“Public authorities should refrain from any intervention that would restrict this right or hinder its exercise in accordance with the law.”

The ICJ opinion ends a long-standing institutional crisis surrounding the guarantee of the right to strike in the International Labour Organization. Following the collapse of the communist bloc in 1989, employer representatives on the ILO’s Committee on the Application of Standards began to challenge the interpretation that Convention No. 87—which concerns freedom of association—includes a guarantee of the right to strike. Yet, as recently as 1984, an ILO commission of inquiry had condemned the imposition of martial law in Poland and the accompanying ban on strikes, basing its assessment precisely on the very same Convention that began to be contested after 1989.

For years to come, international employers’ representatives refused to investigate cases reported to the ILO of violations of the right to strike in the light of the convention on freedom of association. The attempt to paralyze the ILO’s decision-making in this area was accompanied by drastic economic changes in Eastern Europe under local versions of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs). The implementation of mass privatization and deregulation was met with mass worker protests and waves of strikes.

The conflict over safety guarantees for strikers within the International Labour Organization ultimately went to the International Court of Justice at the request of the ILO itself. The Court’s advisory opinion, delivered today, resolves this long-standing dispute in favor of workers and trade unions.

What does this mean for Poland? The ICJ ruling coincided with the 35th anniversary of the introduction of the Act on the Resolution of Collective Disputes. This legislation imposes draconian restrictions on the organization of strikes in Poland. It was introduced in 1991, during the period of what is known as the „Balcerowicz shock therapy.” It replicated the principles of a law enacted during a different kind of shock—martial law—which stifled the democratization of social relations following the successful general strike of August 1980. The objective of both pieces of legislation—the 1982 decree by the Council of State and the 1991 act introduced by a government with roots in the „Solidarity” movement—was the same: to curb the influence of workers on the state during a period of rapid transformation.

The Act of 23 May 1991 is still in force in Poland today. It serves as a primary instrument for maintaining Poland’s position as a source of low-cost labor for the European Union. It prohibits the submission of political demands to the authorities, prohibits the organisation of a general strike, takes away the tool of striking from many professional groups, and before undertaking a strike, forces them to take a number of formal steps, often impossible to fulfill.

Trade unions have sent an Open Letter to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, Donald Tusk, on the occasion of May 1, 2026. In it, they demand the removal of the strike from the draconian Collective Disputes Act and the abolition of the referendum requirement with a 50 percent turnout among all employees. Below is an excerpt from the letter:

“The rules for conducting labor disputes, as set out in the Act [on the Resolution of Collective Disputes], do not align with the realities of trade union activity in a modern economy. The Act imposes restrictions on trade unions that are unheard of elsewhere in Europe. The requirement for a 50 percent turnout among the entire workforce in a strike ballot effectively amounts to a ban on strikes for employees working at various sites of the same company spread across the country. Furthermore, the Act makes the right to strike contingent upon a laborious process of negotiations, mediation, and a referendum. By denying the right to an indefinite work stoppage—either before or during negotiations—the law turns these negotiations into a tool for dragging out disputes, discouraging or intimidating the workforce in the hope that they will abandon their demands.

Multinational corporations also exploit the vast disparities between the regulations governing the right to strike in Poland and those in neighboring EU countries to impose inferior working conditions on us and to undermine the bargaining power of trade unions in the West. Through this Act, the Polish state is facilitating social dumping within Europe.”

Today, on the 35th anniversary of the introduction of the draconian Act de facto prohibiting the collective refusal to work of millions of workers in Poland, the voice of independent trade unions in Poland was supported by the International Court of Justice. We demand immediate action from the authorities: remove strikes from the scope of the Act of May 23, 1991, and abolish the mandatory referendum requirement! Current Polish regulations are not aligned with the conventions ratified by our state. The Act on the Resolution of Collective Disputes does not implement the right arising from ILO regulations. Trade unions fighting against state restrictions on strikes should and can currently benefit from security guarantees when organizing strikes based on their own internal regulations in accordance with Convention 87. The state should not hinder us in this.

Bartosz Kurzyca,
OZZ IP National Committee