international labor-law political labor strike
Protection in international law against employment termination following mass political strike?
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Follow-Up_Committee_for_Arab_Citizens_of_Israel" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel&quot;</a> has called for a general strike today, a call which has been heeded widely - but almost entirely by Palestinian Israelis, and even among them not universally.</p>
<p>Some employers have warned their employees that if they do not come to work today, their employment will be terminated immediately.</p>
<p>Now, this is likely unlawful termination by Israeli labor law - but that's usually not enough to get you reinstated; rather, the courts usually award compensation/damages to the employee.</p>
<p>I was wondering, though - regardless of Israeli labor law - is there any relevant part international law - e.g. in the forms of treaties or agreements - under would help such employees keep their workplace?</p>
<p>I'm specifically interested both in law that is <em>binding</em> in Israel and law which is non-binding in Israel (e.g. a treaty it hasn't signed).</p>

<p>The <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/cescr.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights</a> agrees in Art. 8 that</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure...(d) The right to strike, provided that it is exercised in
conformity with the laws of the particular country.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>&quot;Exercised in conformity with the law&quot; does allow some restrictions on striking. In the US, the <a href="https://www.nlrb.gov/strikes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">NLRB sets rules</a> governing legal vs. illegal strikes, for example a strike in the face of a no-strike contract provision, or a strike to compel an employer to fire an employee who doesn't pay union dues when no union-security agreement is in effect. So you would have to look at the labor law of Israel to see what strikes are legal vs. illegal, and that also requires looking at individual union contracts. Theoretically, a nation could enact a law authorizing any one-day strike as a form of political protest, but there is no such law in Israel as far as I can tell (<a href="https://www.ilo.org/ifpdial/information-resources/national-labour-law-profiles/WCMS_158902/lang--en/index.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this article</a> introduces the various relevant laws of Israel).</p>
<p>The point is that international law on this point requires corresponding national law, as state above. <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/ccpr.aspx" rel="nofollow noreferrer">ICCPR</a> does not create a special right to conduct political strikes against a third party.</p>

<h2>No</h2>
<p>Unless the workers are engaged in international trade, international law does not affect them.</p>
