Freedom of association of civil servants in domestic and comparative law

Abstract

The author tries to point out the importance of freedom of association, as a basic collective right of employees. The paper pays special attention to the freedom of association of civil servants, as well as the conditions under which civil servants are organized in domestic law, in order to effectively exercise the right to collective negotiating, but also the right to collective action. Along with the analysis of the provisions of the Law on Civil Servants, the importance of domestic and international standards, which guarantee the right to association, is pointed out. Special attention is paid to the provisions of the current Special Collective Agreement for State Bodies, which regulate in more detail certain issues of importance for the activities of trade unions, which are not regulated by the Law on Civil Servants. Finally, by applying the comparative law research method, the author seeks to determine how the right to associate civil servants is regulated in the countries of the SFR Yugoslavia, as well as in some EU member states, with the aim of giving de lege ferenda proposals, so that this issue be regulated in more detail in the domestic legislation in relation to the valid legal solution from the Law on Civil Servants, where it is only determined that a civil servant has the right to be a member of a trade union and a professional association and their governing bodies.