36. Although the Labor Code mainly regulates relations between private law subjects, the labor regulations governing public employees and civil servants constantly refer to this Code, and therefore the main articles on collective disputes, applicable in a supplementary manner to the area of public employment, are transcribed below. Article 51. [...] To negotiate a Collective Agreement on Working Conditions, the respective union or employer shall transmit to the other party, for its consideration, via the closest administrative authority for labor affairs, the draft agreement so that it can discussed directly or with the intervention of an administrative authority in labor affairs or any other friendly arbitrator. If, 30 days after the request was filed by the respective union or employer, the parties have not reached a full agreement on their stipulations, any one of them may approach the labor courts, presenting the corresponding collective dispute, so that the point or points of disagreement may be settled [...] Article 223. The following rules govern the functioning and membership of the Executive Committee: […] d) the members of the Executive Committee [of the union] benefit from irremovability from the job they are performing during the entire time they are in office and up to 12 months after they have finished discharging their duties in said office. These members cannot be dismissed unless they give just cause for their dismissal, to be duly substantiated by the employer in a regular proceeding with the competent Labor Court. Article 239. A legal strike is the temporary suspension and stoppage of work in an enterprise, agreed upon, executed and maintained peacefully by a group of three or more workers, upon compliance with the requirements set forth in Article 241, for the exclusive purpose of improving or defending against their employer the economic interests that are specific to them and common to said group. The ordinary courts shall punish, in accordance with the law, any act of coercion or violence carried out on the occasion of a strike against persons or property. An illegal strike is one that does not meet the requirements established in Article 241. Article 241. For a strike to be declared lawful, the workers must: a) strictly adhere to the provisions of Article 239, first paragraph; b) exhaust the conciliation procedures; and c) include at least two-thirds of the persons who work in the respective company or production center and who have initiated their labor relationship prior to the time of the collective economic-social dispute. Article 243. A strike may not be carried out: a) By the workers of transportation companies, while they are on a journey and have not completed it. b) By the workers of clinics, hospitals, hygiene and public cleaning services; and those who work in companies that provide power, lighting, telecommunications, and water processing and distribution plants for the service of the population, unless the necessary personnel is provided to prevent the suspension of such services, without causing serious and immediate harm to public health, safety and the economy; c) State security forces. […] Article 244. When a strike is declared illegal and the workers carry it out, the Court must grant the employer a period of 20 days during which the latter, without incurring any liability, can terminate the labor contracts of workers who participate in a strike. The same rules apply in the case of de facto or illegitimate strikes [...]. Article 394. If no agreement is reached or commitment made to resort to arbitration, within 24 hours of the failure to achieve conciliation, any of the delegates may request the respective Labor and Social Welfare judge to rule on the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the strike action, a ruling that must be awaited before engaging in the strike or work stoppage. The corresponding order will be issued subject to subsequent circumstances changing the characterization made, in which case a ruling shall be made about whether or not the requirements set forth in Articles 241 and 246. 26 A.4. Collective Agreement on Working Conditions 26 Cited by the Commission in its Merits Report, folios 17 and 18. 12