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ITF responds to case judgment (12/11)

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) has issued the following statement, which also is available on the federation’s web site HERE Viking case judgment response 11 December 2007 Responding to the judgment delivered in the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg at 09:00 GMT today, ITF General Secretary David Cockroft stated: “We welcome the Court’s assertion that the right to take collective action - including the right to strike - is a fundamental right which forms an integral part of the general principles of Community law. “As particularly laid out in paragraphs 43, 44 and 77 of its judgment the Court has indicated that the right to take collective action for the protection of workers is a legitimate interest which, in principle, justifies a restriction of one of the free movement rights.” He continued: “The devil’s in the detail and it’s now up to the Court of Appeal to apply this guidance to the particular facts of this case.” He concluded: “Challenging the Commercial Court’s complete negation of fundamental trade union rights has been a long, expensive and arduous process for us but this decision proves that we were right to do so.” The case, Viking Line Abp vs the ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) and FSU (Finnish Seamen’s Union) began with a hearing in 2004 at the Commercial Court in London, whose decision the ITF questioned at the UK Court of Appeal. From there it was referred to the European Court of Justice in November 2005. The ECJ’s findings will now be sent back to the Court of Appeal, which will have to apply them to the facts to deliver a final outcome in the dispute. ###