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 41 countries are now covered. A further nine factsheets are planned.

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. Bulgaria

  7. Croatia

  8. Cyprus

  9. Czech Republic

  10. Denmark

  11. Estonia

  12. Finland

  13. France

  14. Georgia

  15. Germany

  16. Greece

  17. Hungary

  18. Iceland

  19. Ireland

  20. Italy

  21. Latvia

  22. Lithuania

  23. Luxembourg

  24. Malta

  25. Moldova

  26. Montenegro

  27. Netherlands

  28. North Macedonia

  29. Norway

  30. Poland

  31. Portugal

  32. Romania

  33. Russia

  34. Serbia

  35. Slovakia

  36. Slovenia

  37. Spain

  38. Sweden

  39. Turkey

  40. Ukraine

  41. UK

Europe

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Feb. 15, 2019

EPSU-ETUI factsheets on the right to strike

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With hundreds of thousands of public service workers taking strike action across Europe in recent weeks - in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, the UK, Austria and Germany - it is timely that EPSU is publishing factsheets on the right to strike in 35 countries. The factsheets have been produced for EPSU by the European Trade Union Institute. Some groups of public service workers often face bans or restrictions on their right to strike and these factsheets set out the main rules. They also cover international case law and list international standards, such as International Labour Organisation

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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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Jul. 11, 2019

Right to strike updates - many countries infringe social charter

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Earlier this year the Council of Europe published its latest assessments of countries' compliance with its social charter and particularly article 6 on the right to strike. The report reveals that many continue to fail to conform with the requirements of the article and this is often related to significant restrictions on the right to strike particularly affecting public service workers. The latest list of countries not in conformity include: Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Malta, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and the UK. Further details can

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