STUDY The Right to Strike Struck Down? An Analysis of Recent Trends EDLIRA XHAFA October 2016 n The right to strike is under attack at the national and international levels. This attack has intensified in a situation in which economic and security arguments are increasingly being used as a pretext for the violation of fundamental human and democratic rights. n At the national level, almost all(117) countries covered by the report have imple­mented legal measures and practices which violate the right to strike. Of the viola­tions that have been committed over a long stretch of time, the most common ones involve barring groups of workers from the right to strike. While such practices are still prevalent, in the last 5 years 89 countries have been responsible for new vio­lations, mainly in the guise of heavy-handed action against legitimate strikes and interference in the midst of strikes. There continues to be significant restrictions on public sector workers’ right to strike. n At the international level as well, at the 2012 International Labour Conference the Employers’ Group challenged the right to strike protected by the ILO Convention No. 87 and questioned the role of most authoritative international mechanism to bring violations of the right to strike to a global audience. n The strengthening of alliances between workers, communities, academia and other democratic forces is critical in exposing this attack as an assault on the democratic space needed to build a more just society and in building power to ensure that all workers in all countries can exercise their fundamental right to strike.