Sanctions in Collective Labor Agreements (CLAs) from The Perpective of The Criminal Offense of Union Busting
Keywords:
Collective Labor Agreement, Disciplinary Sanctions, Union Busting, Special Criminal LawAbstract
A Collective Labor Agreement (CLA) is a legal instrument of industrial relations that binds workers and employers in regulating rights, obligations, and workplace rules. One of the crucial provisions in a CLA concerns severe disciplinary sanctions, which in practice may give rise to legal issues when their implementation results in restrictions on workers’ freedom of association. This article aims to analyze the provisions on severe disciplinary sanctions in CLAs from the perspective of special criminal law, particularly in relation to the criminal offense of union busting. This research employs a normative legal research method using statutory and conceptual approaches. Primary legal materials include the Collective Labor Agreement for the 2023–2025 period, especially provisions on the basic norms of employment relations and severe disciplinary sanctions, as well as Law Number 21 of 2000 concerning Trade Unions/Labor Unions. Secondary legal materials consist of literature on criminal law and national labor law, as well as international standards on freedom of association and the protection of trade unions. The results of the study indicate that provisions on severe disciplinary sanctions in CLAs that are not systematically interpreted in conjunction with the basic norms of employment relations have the potential to be applied repressively and to hinder trade union activities. Under such conditions, the application of disciplinary sanctions may exceed the scope of industrial relations and potentially fulfill the elements of the criminal offense of union busting. Therefore, this study emphasizes the importance of examining and applying disciplinary sanctions in CLAs in harmony with the basic norms of employment relations and the principles of protection of freedom of association as recognized in national law and international labor standards.
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