The Constitution provides for the right to strike, except for government employees such as the police, armed forces personnel, and hospital workers providing essential services. Legal strikes may occur only after a lengthy conciliation procedure between the parties. The Government's National Conciliation Office must certify that conciliation efforts have ended for a strike to be legal. On January 19-20, employees of the state railroad company, CFL, went on strike to oppose pension reform proposals announced by the Government. No illegal strikes took place during the year.
Unions maintain unrestricted contact with international bodies.
The law provides for and protects collective bargaining, which is conducted in periodic negotiations between centralized organizations of unions and employers. Enterprises having 15 or more employees must have worker representatives to conduct collective bargaining. Enterprises with over 150 employees must form joint works councils composed of equal numbers of management and employee representatives. In enterprises with more than 1,000 employees, one-third of the membership of the supervisory boards of directors must be employee representatives. The law provides for adjudication of employment-related complaints and authorizes labor tribunals to deal with them.