Torts Liability for Strike Action and Third Party Rights

Abstract

Israel's Civil Wrongs Ordinance, and the statutory immunity provided in it from liability in torts for strike action, was enacted at a time when the strike was regardedsimpliciteras a “sacred tradition” and when no distinction had yet been drawn by statute or the courts between legitimate and illegitimate strikes. Since that time there has been an evolution of restrictions on the liberty to strike both in statutory provisions and in judicial doctrine.In the public services, by statutory provision, all strikes which are not authorised by the statutorily designated trade union and nearly all strikes during the duration of a collective agreement are now considered to be “unprotected strikes”. Unprotected strikes are divested of the statutory immunities generally bestowed upon strikers or strike organisers for breach of their employment contract or for causing breach of contract; however, under the statutory provisions only the primary employer may sue. By judicial doctrine, formulated in the National Labour Court, strikes which are held for the purpose of enforcing legal rights rather than for the fixing of economic rights are not a legitimate exercise of the liberty to strike.