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Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association

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Right of workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, to establish and to join organizations3

Distinctions based on occupational category

Public servants

  1. The standards contained in Convention No. 87 apply to all workers without distinction whatsoever, and are therefore applicable to employees of the State. It was indeed considered inequitable to draw any distinction in trade union matters between workers in the private sector and public servants, since workers in both categories should have the right to organize for the defence of their interests.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2516Ethiopia348675
2723Fiji362840
2926Ecuador370385
2961Lebanon370488
Digest: 2006218
  1. Article 2 of Convention No. 87 stipulates that workers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish organizations of their own choosing. This implies that public administration workers should also enjoy the same right.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2363Colombia34289
  1. Public servants, like all other workers, without distinction whatsoever, have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing, without previous authorization, for the promotion and defence of their occupational interests.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346741
1865Republic of Korea353698
2412Nepal3401140
2537Türkiye34719
2650Bolivia (Plurinational State of)353418
2707Republic of Korea357397
2812Cameroon362388
2988Qatar371841
3064Cambodia377210
Digest: 2006219
  1. Public employees (with the sole possible exception of the armed forces and the police, by virtue of Article 9 of Convention No. 87) should, like workers in the private sector, be able to establish organizations of their own choosing to further and defend the interests of their members.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346741
1865Republic of Korea353698
2430Canada343360
2431Equatorial Guinea340922
2433Bahrain340323
2433Bahrain34848
2433Bahrain35418
2516Ethiopia348675
2707Republic of Korea357397
2892Türkiye3631152
2892Türkiye3671236
2988Qatar371841
Digest: 2006220
  1. In view of the importance of the right of employees of the State and local authorities to constitute and register trade unions, the prohibition of the right of association for workers in the service of the State is incompatible with the generally accepted principle that workers, without distinction whatsoever, should have the right to establish organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006221
  1. The denial of the right of workers in the public sector to set up trade unions, where this right is enjoyed by workers in the private sector, with the result that their associations do not enjoy the same advantages and privileges as trade unions, involves discrimination as regards government-employed workers and their organizations as compared with private sector workers and their organizations. Such a situation gives rise to the question of compatibility of these distinctions with Article 2 of Convention No. 87, according to which workers without distinction whatsoever shall have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization, as well as with Articles 3 and 8, paragraph 2, of the Convention.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2680India355887
2680India36059
2680India363154
2680India36765
Digest: 2006222
  1. There are no grounds for challenging the validity of special legal regulations which govern public servants right to organize in so far as such regulations comply with the provisions of Convention No. 87
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Related CountryReportParagraph
3031Panama371637
  1. The existence of a dispute settlement mechanism cannot justify the denial to government employees of the right to organize.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2680India36765
  1. The transfer of public sector workers from a private law system to a public law system is not problematic per se, as long as it respects the principles of freedom of association and collective bargaining.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2970Ecuador376466
  1. The Committee has underlined the need for a Government to recognize the right to organize of workers who are hired by the State on the basis of civil contracts for professional services.
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2768Guatemala363641
3042Guatemala376532
  1. The members of the armed forces who can be excluded from the application of Convention No. 87 should be defined in a restrictive manner.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2432Nigeria3431027
Digest: 2006223
  1. Article 9, paragraph 1, of Convention No. 87 provides that the extent to which the guarantees provided for in this Convention shall apply to the armed forces and the police shall be determined by national laws or regulations; under this provision, it is clear that the International Labour Conference intended to leave it to each State to decide on the extent to which it was desirable to grant members of the armed forces and of the police the rights covered by the Convention, which means that States having ratified the Convention are not required to grant these rights to the said categories of persons.
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2738Russian Federation3571134
2943Norway368758
3073Lithuania374501
Digest: 2006224
  1. The fact that Article 9, paragraph 1, of Convention No. 87 stipulates that the extent to which the guarantees provided for in the Convention shall apply to the armed forces and the police shall be determined by national laws and regulations cannot warrant the assumption that any limitations or exclusions imposed by the legislation of a State as regards the trade union rights of the armed forces and the police are contrary to the Convention; this is a matter which has been left to the discretion of the Members States of the ILO.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006225
  1. Article 2 of Convention No. 87 provides that workers and employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and to join organizations of their own choosing. While Article 9 of the Convention does authorize exceptions to the scope of its provisions for the police and the armed forces, the Committee would recall that the members of the armed forces who can be excluded should be defined in a restrictive manner. Furthermore, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has observed that, since this Article of the Convention provides only for exceptions to the general principle, workers should be considered as civilians in case of doubt.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006226
  1. Civilian workers in the manufacturing establishments of the armed forces should have the right to establish organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization, in conformity with Convention No. 87.
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2432Nigeria3431027
2520Pakistan3481032
2520Pakistan349206
2520Pakistan353188
2520Pakistan355111
Digest: 2006227
  1. The civilian staff working at the Army Bank should enjoy the right to establish and join trade union organizations, and adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination, in the same way as other trade union members and leaders in the country.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006228
  1. Civilians working in the services of the army should have the right to form trade unions.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2273Pakistan344147
2454Montenegro3441065
2988Qatar371841
Digest: 2006229
  1. A provision that denies the right to set up trade unions to judges and public prosecutors is contrary to the principles of freedom of association as laid down in the relevant Conventions, according to which workers without distinction whatsoever shall have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2892Türkiye371933
  1. Judges, like all other workers, should benefit from the right to freedom of association.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
3064Cambodia377210
  1. Local public service employees should be able effectively to establish organizations of their own choosing, and these organizations should enjoy the full right to further and defend the interests of the workers whom they represent.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346772
Digest: 2006230
  1. The functions exercised by firefighters do not justify their exclusion from the right to organize. They should therefore enjoy the right to organize.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346741
1865Republic of Korea353698
3035Guatemala373377
Digest: 2006231
  1. The right of firefighters to form and join organizations of their own choosing should also be guaranteed (although the right to collective action may be subject to restrictions or a prohibition).
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea340751
  1. Firefighters should be afforded the right under Article 2 of Convention No. 87 to establish and join the organization of their own choosing, including the right to be able to form or join higher-level organizations with a membership that is no longer restricted but may also encompass firefighters covered by general labour law.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2777Hungary360778
  1. Prison staff should enjoy the right to organize.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346741
1865Republic of Korea353698
2432Nigeria3431027
2609Guatemala368469
2617Colombia355503
Digest: 2006232
  1. Customs officials are covered by Convention No. 87 and therefore have the right to organize.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2432Nigeria3431027
Digest: 2006233
  1. The functions exercised by employees of customs and excise, immigration, prison and preventive services should not justify their exclusion from the right to organize on the basis of Article 9 of Convention No. 87.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2432Nigeria3431027
  1. The denial of the right to organize to workers in the labour inspectorate constitutes a violation of Article 2 of Convention No. 87.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346741
1865Republic of Korea353698
Digest: 2006234
  1. Teachers should have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing, without previous authorization, for the promotion and defence of their occupational interests.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2547United States of America350801
2707Republic of Korea357397
Digest: 2006235
  1. Teachers, like all other workers, should benefit from the right to freedom of association.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
3064Cambodia377210
  1. With regard to the instructors governed by contracts for the provision of services, the Committee considered that since Convention No. 87 only allows exclusion from its scope of the armed forces and the police, the instructors in question should be able to establish, and join, organizations of their own choosing.
  1. Workers in public or private universities shall have the right to establish organizations and to join them.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2677Panama35779
  1. Teaching and research assistants in so far as they are workers should be ensured full protection of their right to organize.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2547United States of America350801
  1. The Committee requested a government to take measures to repeal a provision of the Universities Act which empowered the employer to determine the persons who could be members of academic staff associations. The Committee also recommended that consideration be given to the possibility of introducing an independent system for the designation, where necessary, of academic staff members, either through third party arbitration or some form of informal machinery.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006237
  1. Conventions No. 87 and No. 98 are applicable to locally recruited personnel in embassies.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
Digest: 2006238
  1. The duty to apply the principles of freedom of association extends to embassies, consulates and other offices, as an integral part of the public administration. Even if the Committee were to accept a Governments argument that ILO Conventions were not applicable to embassies because they do not form part of its territory, it considers that this argument does not apply to the fundamental principles of freedom of association, respect for which it has been mandated to promote.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
2437United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland3441312
  1. The total exclusion from the legislation of high-ranking public servants is a violation of their fundamental right to organize. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that such public servants obtain the right to form their own associations to defend their interests and that this category of staff is not defined so broadly as to weaken the organizations of other public employees.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea340752
1865Republic of Korea340
  1. As concerns persons exercising senior managerial or policy-making responsibilities, the Committee is of the opinion that while these public servants may be barred from joining trade unions which represent other workers, such restrictions should be strictly limited to this category of workers and they should be entitled to establish their own organizations to defend their interests.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346741
1865Republic of Korea353698
1865Republic of Korea363121
Digest: 2006253
  1. The exclusion found in Convention No. 151 with regard to policy decision-makers or high-ranking public officials relates to the issue of collective bargaining and not to the right to organize which should be guaranteed to all public officials without distinction.
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Related CountryReportParagraph
1865Republic of Korea346741
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