The Rosella
| The Rosella | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Court | European Court of Justice |
| Full case name | The International Transport Workers’ Federation and The Finnish Seamen's Union v Viking Line ABP and OÜ Viking Line Eesti |
| Decided | 11 December 2007 |
| Case history | |
| Prior action(s) | [2005] EWCA Civ 1299 and [2005] EWHC 1222 (Comm) |
| Case opinions | |
| AG Maduro's Opinion, 23 May 2007 | |
| Court membership | |
| Judge(s) sitting | V Skouris, P Jann, A Rosas, K Lenaerts, U Lõhmus, L Bay Larsen, R Schintgen, R Silva de Lapuerta, K Schiemann, J Makarczyk, P Kūris, E Levits and A Ó Caoimh |
| Keywords | |
| Right to strike, Freedom of establishment | |
The Rosella or International Transport Workers Federation v Viking Line ABP (2007) C-438/05 is an EU law case, relevant to all labour law within the European Union, including UK labour law, which held that there is a positive right to strike. However, it also held that the right to strike could infringe a business's freedom of establishment under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union article 49 (ex TEC article 43). The decision has been criticised for the Court's inarticulate line of reasoning, and its disregard of fundamental human rights.
The Rosella was shortly followed by a case on freedom to provide services called Laval Un Partneri Ltd v Svenska Byggnadsarbetareforbundet, and by the influential European Court of Human Rights decision in Demir and Baykara v Turkey.
Viking Line ABP operated a ship called The Rosella between Estonia and Finland. It wanted to operate under the Estonian flag so that it could use Estonian workers on lower wages than the higher Finnish wages for the existing crew. The policy of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITWF) was to oppose such "reflagging" for convenience by companies registering their ship abroad in a low labour cost jurisdiction, when their real seat is in another country. The Finnish Seamen's Union, a member of the ITWF, planned industrial action. The ITWF told its partners to not negotiate with Viking and hinder its business. Viking Line ABP responded by seeking an injunction in the English courts, claiming that the industrial action would infringe its right to freedom of establishment under TEC art 43, now TFEU art 49.
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