The right to strike - country factsheets

The right to strike varies considerably across Europe, often with specific rules and restrictions imposed on public service workers. The European Trade Union Institute has produced 35 country factsheets that explain the latest legal situation. EPSU has also begun to add countries outside the European Union and candidate countries and a total of 48 countries are now covered.

Each factsheet sets out the main legal basis for the right to strike, indicating which international standards the country has signed up to. It then runs through the main rules covering:

  • who has the right to call a strike,
  • definition of a strike,
  • who may participate in a strike,
  • procedural requirements, and
  • legal consequences of participating in a strike.

The factsheet then looks at the case law of international and European bodies, including in particular the International Labour Organisation and Council of Europe.

  1. Albania

  2. Armenia

  3. Austria

  4. Azerbaijan

  5. Belgium

  6. Bosnia & Hercegovina

  7. Bulgaria

  8. Croatia

  9. Cyprus

  10. Czech Republic

  11. Denmark

  12. Estonia

  13. Finland

  14. France

  15. Georgia

  16. Germany

  17. Greece

  18. Hungary

  19. Iceland

  20. Ireland

  21. Italy

  22. Kazakhstan

  23. Kosovo

  24. Kyrgyzstan

  25. Latvia

  26. Lithuania

  27. Luxembourg

  28. Malta

  29. Moldova

  30. Montenegro

  31. Netherlands

  32. Northern Macedonia

  33. Norway

  34. Poland

  35. Portugal

  36. Romania

  37. Russia

  38. Serbia

  39. Slovakia

  40. Slovenia

  41. Spain

  42. Sweden

  43. Switzerland

  44. Tajikistan

  45. Turkey

  46. Ukraine

  47. UK

  48. Uzbekistan

Europe

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Aug. 03, 2021

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Forty-eight countries are now covered in EPSU’s library of factsheets on the right to strike. Information on Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Switzerland, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan was recently added to the EPSU website. Each factsheet sets out the main legal provisions covering strike action, including who can call a strike, procedural requirements and any limitations on the right to take action. There is also a section on international case law. The factsheets were launched jointly with the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) in 2019 with the ETUI coordinating production of factsheets on 34

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Feb. 15, 2019

EPSU-ETUI factsheets on the right to strike

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Jul. 28, 2020

Right to strike - information now on 41 countries

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EPSU has just published new factsheets on the right to strike in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia taking the total number of countries covered in this series to 41. This follows the addition of factsheets on Moldova, Russia and Ukraine earlier this year. Each factsheet sets out the main legal provisions and highlights any recent cases taken to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and/or the European Social Committee (ESC) of the Council of Europe. Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have all been the subject of ILO and ESC cases. The ESC has ruled that all three are not in conformity with

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