Lockout in collective labour relations

Vykdant Lietuvos darbo teisės reformą baigiamas rengti Darbo kodekso projektas (toliau – projektas). Jis derinamas su Europos Sąjungos teisės sistema ir turėtų pakeisti atskirus darbo įstatymus bei iki šiol galiojantį 1972 m. priimtą Darbo įstatymų kodeksą (DĮK). Tarp daugelio naujovių projekte Lietuvos pramoninkų konfederacijos ir Lietuvos darbo federacijos iniciatyva pirmą kartą mūsų šalies darbo teisės istorijoje bandoma legalizuoti neįprastą normą – lokautą. Kadangi lokautas Lietuvoje yra draudžiamas ir specialiojoje literatūroje nenagrinėtas, straipsnio tikslas – paanalizuoti teisinę lokauto prigimtį, užsienyje paplitusių koncepcijų pagrindinius bruožus, kitų valstybių teisinio reguliavimo ypatumus, lokauto ir streiko teisės santykį.Lockouts are not directly regulated in the labour laws of Lithuania, though, actually, they are equal to the forbidden actions undertaken by the employer in case of a Strike that are set out in the Law of Collective Disputes Regulation. Due to a complicated procedure of a Strike declare aimed at a separate enterprise, strikes are quite a rare phenomenon in Lithuania which does not provoke the possibility of a retaliatory defensive measure – the lockout. On the ground of the Europe Social Charter and ILO conventions the Industrialists Confederation of Lithuania and one of the trade union federations put forward the initiative to include the rule providing for the possibility of the lockout into the draft Labour Code. However, it is not balanced with other rules of solving collective labour disputes and is still in the process of codification. Using regulations of other countries and foreign scientific works, the article presents the analyses of legal nature of the lockout, some of its conceptions, the peculiarities of international legal regulation, illegal forms of strikes linked with legal consequences of the lockout; different attitudes of employees, employers and trade unions towards the lockout are also examined. The emphasis is put on the experience of Labour courts of Germany that can be useful solving the problem of the lockout legalization, especially in the countries that are in transition to market economy, including Lithuania