|
Fundamental International Labour Standards
on Freedom of Association
The freedom of association
is the most basic of all principles underlying the work of ILO
and the activities of those who toil for social justice
In addition to recognition of the principle of
freedom of association in the ILO's Constitution and its Declaration
of Philadelphia, two Conventions -- adopted in 1948 and 1949 --
set out the essential elements of the freedom of association,
the right to organise, and the importance of collective bargaining.
Freedom of Association
and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No.
87)
Establishes the right of all workers and
employers to form and join organizations of their own choosing
without prior authorization, and lays down a series of guarantees
for the free functioning of organizations without interference
by the public authorities.
Summary
of the provisions
Recognition of the right to organize:
The right to organize is to be granted to workers and employers,
without distinction whatsoever (Article 2). Only the armed forces
and the police may be exempted by national laws or regulations
(Article 9).
Establishment of organizations: It must
be possible for organizations to be established without previous
authorization (Article 2).
Free choice of organization: Workers and
employers are guaranteed the right to establish and, subject only
to the rules of the organization concerned, to join organizations
of their own choosing (Article 2).
Functioning of organizations: Organizations
shall be free from interference by the public authorities when
drawing up their constitutions and rules, electing their representatives,
organizing their administration and activities and formulating
their programmes (Article 4).
Dissolution or suspension: Organizations
shall not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by administrative
authority (Article 4).
Federations and confederations: Organizations
shall have the right to establish and join federations and confederations
(Article 5); the guarantees provided in Articles 2, 3 and 4 apply
to these higher-grade organizations (Article 6).
International affiliation: Organizations,
federations and confederations shall have the right to affiliate
with international organizations of workers and employers (Article
5).
Legal personality: The acquisition of
legal personality by organizations, federations and confederations
shall not be made subject to conditions of such a character as
to restrict the application of the provisions of Articles 2, 3
and 4 (Article 7).
Organizations and the law: In exercising
the rights provided for in the Convention, workers and employers
and their respective organizations shall respect the law of the
land; however, the law of the land shall not be such as to impair,
nor shall it be so applied as to impair, the guarantees provided
for in the Convention (Article 8).
Right to
Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
Provides for protection against anti-union discrimination,
for protection of workers' and employers' organizations against
acts of interference by each other, and for measures to promote
and encourage collective bargaining.
Summary
of the provisions
Anti-union discrimination: Workers shall
enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination
in respect of their employment, both at the time of entering employment
and during the employment relationship. Such protection shall
apply more particularly in respect of acts calculated to --
- make the employment of a worker subject to the
condition that he shall not join a union or shall relinquish
trade union membership;
- cause the dismissal of or otherwise prejudice
a worker by reason of union membership or because of participation
in union activities outside working hours or, with the consent
of the employer, within working hours (Article 1).
Acts of interference: Workers' and employers'
organisations shall be protected against interference by each
other or each other's agents or members. In particular, acts which
are designed to promote the establishment of workers' organizations
under the domination of employers or employers' organizations,
or to support workers' organizations by financial or other means,
with the object of placing such organizations under the control
of employers or employers' organisations, shall be deemed to constitute
acts of interference (Article 2).
Machinery appropriate to national conditions:
In view of the importance of the procedural aspect in ensuring
the effective application of these standards, the Convention makes
it an obligation to establish, where necessary, machinery appropriate
to national conditions for the purpose of ensuring respect for
these two facets of the right to organize (Article 3).
Collective bargaining: While Convention
No. 98 is mainly concerned with the protection of trade unions,
it is also the ILO instrument setting forth its basic principles
in respect of collective bargaining: The obligation to promote
this practice and the voluntary nature of such bargaining. Article
4 requires measures appropriate to national conditions to be taken,
where necessary, to encourage and promote full development and
utilization of machinery for voluntary negotiation between employers
or employers' organizations and workers' organizations, with a
view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by
means of collective agreements.
Public sector: Unlike Convention No. 87,
which applies to workers in both the private and public sectors,
without distinction, and accordingly also to public servants,
Convention No. 98 does not deal with the position of public servants
engaged in the administration of the State (Article 6).
So fundamental is the concept of freedom of association,
that ILO member States agreed in 1950 that even non-ratifying
States should be susceptible to a special
system of supervision for infringement of associational rights.
|
