Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association

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

Distinctions based on occupational category

Self-employed workers and the liberal professions

1. By virtue of the principles of freedom of association, all workers with the sole exception of members of the armed forces and the police should have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing. The criterion for determining the persons covered by that right, therefore, is not based on the existence of an employment relationship, which is often non-existent, for example in the case of agricultural workers, self-employed workers in general or those who practise liberal professions, who should nevertheless enjoy the right to organize.

1. The Committee requested a government to take the necessary measures to ensure that self-employed workers fully enjoyed freedom of association rights, in particular the right to join the organizations of their own choosing.

1. It is contrary to Convention No. 87 to prevent trade unions of self-employed workers who are not subordinate to, or dependent on, a person.