Article 2 - The right to just conditions of work

Abstract

This chapter discussed the practical aspects of the right to fair working conditions as exercised by the ESC States Parties. It has been shown that the obligations expressed in Article 2 § 1–7 of the revised Charter constitute the fundamental human right to work. The implementation of this provision is in the interest of the Member States, which are, after all, bound by other standards of international labour laws, resulting from the ILO and WHO conventions, EU law and, above all, from Article 7 of the ICESC. The analysis leads to the following conclusions. Firstly, the Committee’s examination of the States’ reports shows that a large number of States have some problems with the complete implementation of all the provisions of Article 2 § 1–7 of the ESC (rev). The Committee has positively assessed only two countries, Romania and Latvia, in all seven points, as implementing all aspects of the right to fair working conditions. This means that unlike in the case of complaints to the ECtHR, the division into the ‘new’ and ‘old’ CoE Member States is irrelevant. Secondly, States do not deal with all obligations under Article 2 equally well. The biggest problem is fully implementing their obligations under Article 2 § 1 of the revised Charter. In 2018 the Committee has noted that the national legislation did not comply with this provision in as many as 12 countries. These are Armenia, Cyprus, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey while the Committee in 2014 has accused twenty States of non-performance: Andorra, Armenia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia., the Netherlands and Turkey. In the case of Article 2 § 2 of the revised Charter, the Committee has concluded that the situation in 2018 was inconsistent in seven countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Malta, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway and Slovakia. In 2014 the Committee concluded that the situation in the United Kingdom, Greece, Georgia, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia was not in conformity with Article 2 §. Another problematic provision is Article 2 § 3 of the revised Charter, the Committee in 2018 has accused four States of non-performance: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, The Russian Federation, Moldova and the Netherlands (In 2014 it was 4 countries: Belgium, the Netherlands, Moldova and Hungary). Thirdly, it is relatively easy for States to comply with the standards that have been introduced by the provisions of the revised version of the Charter. This applies, in particular, to the provisions of Articles 2 § 4 and § 6 of the revised Charter. When examining the latter provision, the Committee has found that as many as 18 countries meet their obligations, and only three have violated them. The only exception is the full implementation of Article 2 § 7 of the ESC (rev), which, according to the Committee, has been failed by eight countries: Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine. Therefore, the precise method of examining the actual fulfilment of States’ obligations adopted by the Committee, as well as the progressive and social nature of the right to work, and not only the formal regulation of the right to fair working conditions in the legislation of a given country, should be positively assessed.