Arguments in favor of and against arbitration of individual labor disputes

An employee may seek protection of his rights arising from labor relationship in front of the arbitration for labor disputes. An employee may demand from arbitration to mediate in a dispute between him and the employer, before he initiates formal proceedings in front of the competent court. Arbitration of labor disputes has been introduced by the Law on Basics of Labor Relations (1996). However, this type of dispute resolution has not been widely used in practice. There are many reasons for such a situation. Employees wry rarely refer their disputes to arbitration and it seems that this option is unknown to many of them. In many enterprises arbitration has not been constituted at alL The professional qualifications of arbitrators are considerably inferior to that of the slate judges. Further on, professional organizations such as chambers of commerce and trade unions seem to invest insufficient effort in promoting arbitration. The composition of arbitration is better suited to the interests of the employer than of the employees (two representatives of the employer and one representative of the trade unions). The employee has no influence on the appointment of arbitrators. Judging by the manner of its organization and by its activities so far, this type of arbitration for labor disputes has no reason to exist any more in the domestic legal system.