Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association

Right of employers and workers organizations to establish federations and confederations and to affiliate with international organizations of employers and workers12

Affiliation with international organizations of workers and employers

General principles

1. International trade union solidarity constitutes one of the fundamental objectives of any trade union movement and underlies the principle laid down in Article 5 of Convention No. 87 that any organization, federation or confederation shall have the right to affiliate with international organizations of workers and employers.

1. Unions and confederations should be free to affiliate with international federations or confederations of their own choosing without intervention by the political authorities.

1. Article 5 of Convention No. 87 as is clear from the preparatory work on the instrument merely gives expression to the fact that workers or employers are united by a solidarity of interests, a solidarity which is not limited either to one specific undertaking or even to a particular industry, or even to the national economy, but extends to the whole international economy. Furthermore, the right to organize corresponds to the practice followed by the United Nations and the International Labour Organization, both of which have formally recognized international organizations of workers and employers by associating them directly with their own activities.

1. The Committee has emphasized the importance that it attaches to the fact that no obstacle should be placed in the way of the affiliation of workers organizations, in full freedom, with any international organization of workers of their own choosing.

1. The Committee has considered that there might be justification for one complainants contention that the principle of the right of workers organizations to affiliate with international organizations of workers includes by implication the right to disaffiliate from an international organization.

Intervention by the public authorities

1. Legislation which requires that government permission be obtained for the international affiliation of a trade union is incompatible with the principle of free and voluntary affiliation of trade unions with international organizations.

1. When a national organization seeks to affiliate with an international organization of workers, the conditions which the national organization attaches to its application and the question as to whether it agrees or disagrees with the international organization in its attitude to any political matter are matters which concern only the respective organizations themselves; while disagreement may influence the national organization in deciding whether to seek, maintain or withdraw from international affiliation, it should not form a basis for government intervention.

Consequences of international affiliation

1. Any assistance or support that an international trade union organization might provide in setting up, defending or developing national trade union organizations is a legitimate trade union activity, even when the trade union tendency does not correspond to the tendency or tendencies within the country.

1. Legislation which provides for the banning of any organization where there is evidence that it is under the influence or direction of any outside source, and also for the banning of any organization where there is evidence that it receives financial assistance or other benefits from any outside source, unless such financial assistance or other benefits be approved by and channeled through government - to the extent that it applies to the right of international affiliation of trade unions - is incompatible with the principles set out in Article 5 of Convention No. 87.

1. The granting of advantages resulting from the international affiliation of a trade union organization must not conflict with the law, it being understood that the law should not be such as to render any such affiliation meaningless.

1. Legislation prohibiting the acceptance by a national trade union of financial assistance from an international organization of workers to which it is affiliated infringes the principles concerning the right to affiliate with international organizations of workers.

1. Trade unions and employers organizations should not be required to obtain prior authorization to receive international financial assistance in their trade union or entrepreneurial activities.

1. All national organizations of workers and employers should have the right to receive financial assistance from international organizations of workers and employers respectively, whether or not they are affiliated to the latter.

1. The principle that national organizations of workers should have the right to affiliate with international organizations carries with it the right, for these organizations, to make contact with one another and, in particular, to exchange their trade union publications.

1. The right to affiliate with international organizations of workers implies the right, for the representatives of national trade unions, to maintain contact with the international trade union organizations with which they are affiliated, to participate in the activities of these organizations and to benefit from the services and advantages which their membership offers.

1. It is a fully legitimate trade union activity to seek advice and support from other well-established trade union movements in the region to assist in defending or developing the national trade union organizations, even when the trade union tendency does not correspond to the tendency or tendencies within the country, and visits made in this respect represent normal trade union activities.

1. The right of national trade unions to send representatives to international trade union congresses is a normal corollary of the right of those national organizations to join international workers organizations.

1. Leaders of organizations of workers and employers should enjoy appropriate facilities for carrying out their functions, including the right to leave the country when their activities on behalf of the persons they represent so require; moreover, the free movement of these representatives should be ensured by the authorities.

1. Visits to affiliated national trade union organizations and participation in their congresses are normal activities for international workers organizations, subject to the provisions of national legislation with regard to the admission of foreigners.

1. The formalities to which trade unionists and trade union leaders are subject in seeking entry to the territory of a State, or in attending to trade union business there, should be based on objective criteria and be free of anti-union discrimination.

1. The Committee has recognized that the refusal to grant a passport (or visa) to foreigners, or more generally the right to exclude persons from national territory, are matters which concern the sovereignty of a State.

1. Although it recognizes that the refusal to grant visas to foreigners is a matter which falls within the sovereignty of the State, the Committee has requested a government to ensure that the formalities required of international trade unionists to enter the country are based on objective criteria free of anti-trade unionism.

1. The formalities required before trade unionists can leave a country in order to take part in international meetings should be based on objective criteria that are free of anti-union discrimination, so as not to involve the risk of infringing the right of trade union organizations to send representatives to international trade union congresses.

1. In general, the authorities should not withhold official documents by reason of a persons membership in a workers or employers organization, as these documents are sometimes a prerequisite for important activities, for instance obtaining or maintaining employment. This is even more essential where persons hold a position in that organization, inasmuch as the refusal may prevent them from exercising their duties, such as travelling to an official meeting.

1. The imposition of sanctions, such as banishment or control of overseas travel for trade union reasons, constitutes a violation of freedom of association.

1. Participation in the work of international organizations must be based on the principle of the independence of the trade union movement. Within the framework of this principle, full freedom should be given to representatives of trade unions to take part in the work of the international workers unions to which the organizations they represent are affiliated.

1. In all cases governments have the right to take the necessary measures to guarantee public order and national security. This includes ascertaining the purpose of visits to the country by persons against whom there are grounds for suspicion from this point of view. The authorities should verify each specific case as quickly as possible and should aim on the basis of objective criteria at ascertaining whether or not there exist facts which might have real repercussions on public order and security. It would be desirable, in situations of this kind, to seek an agreement through appropriate discussions in which the authorities, as well as the leaders and organizations concerned, may clarify their positions.