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

Workers in cooperatives

1. The Promotion of Cooperatives Recommendation, 2002 (No. 193), calls on governments to ensure that cooperatives are not set up or used for non-compliance with labour law or used to establish disguised employment relationships.

1. Mindful of the particular characteristics of cooperatives, the Committee considers that associated labour cooperatives (whose members are their own bosses) cannot be considered, in law or in fact, as workers organizations within the meaning of Convention No. 87, that is organizations that have as their objective to promote and defend workers interests. That being so, referring to Article 2 of Convention No. 87 and recalling that the concept of worker means not only salaried worker, but also independent or autonomous worker, the Committee has considered that workers associated in cooperatives should have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing.

1. The Committee cannot cease consideration of the special situation of workers with regard to cooperatives, in particular as concerns the protection of their labour interests and considers that such workers should enjoy the right to join or form trade unions in order to defend those interests.

1. The Committee requested a government to ensure that cooperatives were not used as a means of preventing workers from exercising trade union rights, in particular by publicizing among both members and workers of cooperatives the rights and obligations of both.