| Abstract [eng] |
It is thought that disputes are inevitable in relations where different interests of many parties meet. Due to the existence of disputes and relations that are becoming more complicated, society searches for effective ways of their settlement. Judicial settlement of the occurred disputes is the last stage of settlement. The laws of various countries foresee opportunities and offer the parties to try to employ alternative ways to settle the disputes emerging between them before applying to court. Both, scientific references describe and the laws of various foreign countries most often consolidate three alternative ways for dispute settlement – conciliation, mediation and arbitration. However, neither judicial nor alternative settlement of disputes is universal and suitable for all disputes. It is stated that the method of mediation is the most suitable in cases when in addition to the settlement of a dispute it is very important to maintain or restore good relations between the parties of a dispute, i.e. mediation is recommended in cases when the relations of the parties of the dispute are of continual character. These are the collective labour relations. The institute of mediation is known rather recently in Lithuanian collective labour law; meanwhile foreign countries have consolidated an opportunity to settle collective labour disputes by means of mediation rather long ago. Differently from Lithuania, the labour laws of some foreign countries consolidate two kinds of mediation – mandatory (compulsory) mediation and court-annexed mediation. The main criterion that allows considering mandatory (compulsory) and court-annexed mediation as kinds of mediation, is that the principle of voluntarity is limited in some aspects in both kinds of mediation. Taking into account the novelty of mediation as an alternative for dispute settlement in Lithuanian collective labour law, this Master thesis analyses mediation as a method for the settlement of collective labour disputes in theoretical and practical terms and compares it to the practice of the selected foreign countries. |
