Ermakov, D.N. On the improvement of procedures for the prevention of labor confl icts

Abstract: The analytical article concerns economic and legal aspects of improving the procedures for the resolution of collective labor disputes. The article formulates and fi nds solutions for the problems in the sphere of application of modern legislation to resolution of labor disputes. The author studies the practice of activities of the Labor Arbitration Court (Moscow) in the sphere of resolution of collective labor disputes. In the process of writing the article the author used international normative legal acts and documents of the International Labor Organization (ILO), and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The results of the work involved development of recommendations for the improvement of mechanisms for the prevention of labor confl icts. The author also revealed insignifi cant differences between the Recommendation of the ILO N. 92 (1951) and the Labor Code of the Russian Federation in the sphere of procedure for the resolution of collective labor disputes. The ILO Recommendation provides for an obligation of the parties to avoid lock-outs and strikes in case when a dispute is transferred to an arbitration body, while the Labor Code of the Russian Federation directly prohibits lock-outs at all of the stages of confl ict regulation. There is almost no examples of labor dispute resolution in labor arbitration in the Russian Federation. In spite of the formation of the Labor Arbitration Court in 2001 for the purpose of resolving collective labor disputes, its activities remain purely consultative. The materials of the article may be refl ected in the activities of federal government bodies implementing state policy in the sphere of labor and employment, it also could be of use for practicing lawyers, lecturers and students. The theoretical, methodological and empiric basis for the studies involved fundamental theories and concepts, revealing the theoretical and methodological bases for the labor dispute resolution, which were developed by Russian and foreign scholars. It seems viable to minimize the possibilities for the disputes on implementation of the collective contract at the very time of its conclusion. As one of the options for achieving this goal, it could be possible to provide for the possibility for consultations for the representatives of workers taking part in collective negotiations on drafting, conclusion and amendments to a collective contract on a part of trade unions and their associations both in the presence and in the absence of primary trade union organization. Additionally, it seams reasonable to provide in the collective contracts for a procedure of labor dispute resolution in a specifi c enterprise, and it should not contradict to the current legislation. It may be based upon the existing Recommendations of the Ministry of Labor on resolving a collective labor dispute with participation of an intermediary, peaceful reconciliation commission, labor arbitration or any other way approved by the parties and compliant with the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. The possibility for the qualifi ed consultation on the part of professional unions and their associations should also be considered.

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