Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Slovakia (Ratification: 1997)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Organisation of Employers’ (IOE), received on 1 September 2025, which reproduce the statements made in June 2025 before the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS) on the occasion of the examination of the application of the Convention by Slovakia by the Employer spokesperson and the national employers’ representative. The Committee also notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 2 September 2025. The Committee further notes the response from the Government, received on 29 October 2025.

Follow-up to the conclusions of the Committee on the Application of Standards (International Labour Conference, 113th Session, June 2025)

The Committee recalls the discussion that took place in the CAS, at its 113th Session in June 2025, regarding the application of the Convention. The Committee notes that, in its conclusions, the CAS recalled that tripartite consultation to promote the implementation of international labour standards is of paramount importance and requested the Government to: (i) engage in constructive tripartite social dialogue about all matters including reasons for any changes to the provisions of Act No. 103/2017 on tripartite consultations at national level, in line with the Convention; (ii) conduct tripartite consultations with the most representative employer and worker organisations on all ILO standards and activities at the national level; (iii) ensure that consultations are effective in law and in practice and take place at least once a year and, in that regard, also ensure that, in law and in practice, no exception allows organizations to be granted the same consultation rights as those of representative organizations; (iv) ensure that organisations are able to exercise their right to freely elect their representatives without any external interference; and (v) provide information on how the new membership of the Economic and Social Council of the Slovak Republic is expected to function and effectively promote and strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.

The CAS requested the Government to provide information to the Committee on measures to implement the above recommendations by 1 September 2025.

Articles 1, 2 and 3 of the Convention. Consultation procedures. Election of representatives of the social partners. The Committee notes that, in its observations, the ITUC expresses concerns regarding legislative changes in Slovakia that may allow the emergence of unrepresentative trade unions in national-level social dialogue. The ITUC highlights that the central issue is the introduction of amendments to Act No. 103/2017 Coll. on Tripartite Consultations at the National Level (the Tripartite Act), with effect from 1 March 2021. The ITUC recalls that, prior to these amendments, only workers’ organizations with at least 100,000 members were considered “representative organizations” and could therefore be represented in the Economic and Social Council of the Slovak Republic (the Council). It emphasizes that Slovakia’s main trade union organization, the Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic (KOZ SR), considers that the amendments could allow workers’ organizations with as few as 1,000 members to participate, thereby creating doubts about their representativeness and establishing unequal conditions for participation in national tripartite social dialogue. For the ITUC, the purpose of the amendments is to enable non-representative workers’ organizations to join national-level social dialogue, thereby weakening KOZ SR’s role as the most representative workers’ organization. The ITUC argues that, while trade union pluralism is a fundamental element of social dialogue, it is essential to ensure that the trade union organizations participating in social dialogue are genuinely free and independent. It stresses that although the Convention requires employers and workers to be represented on an equal footing in any bodies through which consultations are undertaken, it does not require an equal number of representative organizations, as there may be cases where only one organization is the most representative. The ITUC also refers to the 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions concerning rights at work in light of the ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, 2008 (2012 General Survey), which affirms that the determination of the most representative organizations must be based on objective, pre-established and precise criteria, so as to avoid any possibility of bias or abuse. The ITUC is of the view that social dialogue in Slovakia is no longer organized in a manner that ensures equal treatment of all parties and that the Government will have to reverse the 2021 amendments to restore compliance with the Convention. It observes that, since the CAS examined the implementation of the Convention in Slovakia, the Government has made no progress toward engaging in tripartite dialogue to adopt measures that would give full effect to the Convention, in line with the CAS conclusions.

The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that tripartite consultations are conducted with the most representative organizations of employers’ and workers according to the criteria set out in the Tripartite Act under which representativeness is determined primarily on a quantitative ground, namely a minimum of 100,000 members. Only in cases where there are fewer than three workers’ or employers’ organizations on the Council, can other organizations with less than 100,000 members apply for Council membership. Organizations with the highest number of members/employees are then considered, using transparent criteria. The Government submits that neither Article 1 of the Convention nor the Tripartite Consultation (Activities of the International Labour Organisation) Recommendation, 1976 (No. 152), specify how national representativeness criteria must be defined. The Convention does not require a specific quantitative threshold. However, the Convention refers to the “most representative organizations” in the plural, which in the Government’s view refers to a group of representative organizations defined on the basis of objective qualitative and/or quantitative criteria. For the Government, such plurality enriches and is necessary in the context of social dialogue. The Government reports that, until the entry into force of the 2021 amendments, there was only one organization deemed representative on the workers’ side and up to four organizations deemed representative on the employers’ side. Following the amendments to the Tripartite Act, two workers’ organizations are considered representative. The Government underlines that the trade union Spoločné odbory Slovenska (Joint Trade Unions of Slovakia), which joined the Council as a result of the entry into force of the 2021 amendments, is active in major industrial enterprises, especially in the automotive sector, participates in higher-level collective bargaining, and is the country’s second-largest union. The Government submits that its entry did not affect the functioning of the Council. According to the Government, KOZ SR does not object to the existence of a quantitative criterion as such but claims that the threshold is too low and allows unrepresentative pro-government unions to participate in tripartite consultations. The Government rejects this claim and argues that it is an attempt by KOZ SR to maintain its monopoly on workers’ representation during tripartite consultations. The Government adds that the members of the Council do not share KOZ SR’s view as demonstrated at the March and August 2025 Council meeting, where six of seven representative organizations supported maintaining the existing legal framework. The Government therefore submits that the Tripartite Act complies with the Convention and that no additional measures are required.

Further to its previous comment, the Committee recalls that the term “the most representative organizations of employers and workers” in Article 1 of the Convention does not mean only the largest organisation of employers and the largest organisation of workers. If in a particular country there are two or more organisations of employers or workers which represent a significant body of opinion, even though one of them may be larger than the others, they may all be considered to be “most representative organisations” for the purpose of the Convention. Governments should endeavour to secure an agreement of all the organisations concerned in establishing the consultative procedures provided for by the Convention, but if this is not possible it is in the last resort for governments to decide, in good faith in the light of the national circumstances, which organisations are to be considered as the most representative (2000 General Survey on tripartite consultation international labour standards, para. 34). The Committee nevertheless recalls that the determination of the most representative organizations must be based on objective, pre-established and precise criteria so as to avoid any possibility of bias or abuse. In that regard, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that, since the introduction of amendments to the Tripartite Act, when fewer than three employers’ or workers’ organisations qualify as representative based on having a minimum of 100,000 members, additional entities below that threshold may join the Council – up to a maximum of three in total. The Committee also recalls that Article 3(2), of the Convention, which provides that “employers and workers shall be represented on an equal footing” should not be interpreted as imposing strict numerical equality, but rather, as being intended to ensure substantially equal representation of the respective interests of employers and of workers so that their views are given equal weight. It also recalls that particular categories of employers or of workers can also be represented without infringing the principle of equal representation, particularly where there are many representative organizations (2000 General Survey, paras 46 and 59).

Consequently, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information and explain how Act No. 103/2017 Coll. on Tripartite Consultations at the National Level (the Tripartite Act), or any other national text, establishes objective and precise criteria for the determination of the most representative organization(s), and the appointment of their representative(s) to the Economic and Social Council of the Slovak Republic (the Council), in situations where fewer than three employers’ or workers’ organisations qualify as representative on the basis of having a minimum of 100,000 members. Recalling that the principle of representation on an equal footing aims to ensure that the views of employers and workers are given equal weight, rather than imposing strict numerical equality, the Committee further requests the Government to provide up-to-date information on the practical application of the amended Tripartite Act, demonstrating how it ensures that the interests of both parties remain balanced in the consultation process. The Committee also requests the Government to provide detailed and updated information on how the membership of the Council functions and effectively promotes and strengthens tripartism and social dialogue.

Articles 2 and 5 of the Convention. Effective tripartite consultations. The Committee notes the Government’s general indication that tripartite consultations at the highest level are held on all draft legislation affecting all employees and employers. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that tripartite consultations are held once a month or at an interval agreed by the social partners. The Government reports that nine tripartite meetings were held in 2024, and eight meetings were held by the end of August 2025. Noting that the Government indicates that eight meetings of the Council took place in 2025, without providing information on the content and outcome of the tripartite consultations held on the matters referred to in Article 5(1) of the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide information in that regard. The Committee also requests the Government to provide detailed and updated information on the frequency, content and outcome of any subsequent consultations. 

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.