Convention
concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise
(Note:
Date of coming into force: 04:07:1950.)
The General Conference of the
International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at
Having decided to adopt, in the form of
a Convention, certain proposals concerning freedom of association and
protection of the right to organise, which is the seventh item on the agenda of the session;
Considering that the Preamble to the
Constitution of the International Labour Organisation declares recognition of the principle of
freedom of association to be a means of improving conditions of labour and of establishing peace;
Considering that the Declaration of
Philadelphia reaffirms that freedom of expression and of association are essential
to sustained progress;
Considering that the International Labour Conference, at its Thirtieth Session, unanimously
adopted the principles which should form the basis for international
regulation;
Considering that the General Assembly
of the United Nations, at its Second Session, endorsed these principles and
requested the International Labour Organisation to continue every effort in order that it may
be possible to adopt one or several international Conventions;
adopts the ninth day of July
of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-eight, the following
Convention, which may be cited as the Freedom of Association and Protection of
the Right to Organise Convention, 1948:
Article 1
Each Member of the International Labour Organisation for which
this Convention is in force undertakes to give effect to the following
provisions.
Article 2
Workers and employers, without
distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and, subject only to
the rules of the organisation concerned, to join organisations of their own choosing without previous authorisation.
Article 3
1. Workers' and employers' organisations shall have the right to draw up their
constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to
formulate their programmes.
2. The public authorities shall refrain
from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful
exercise thereof.
Article 4
Workers' and employers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved or
suspended by administrative authority.
Article 5
Workers' and employers' organisations shall have the right to establish and join
federations and confederations and any such organisation,
federation or confederation shall have the right to affiliate with
international organisations of workers and employers.
Article 6
The provisions of Articles 2, 3 and 4
hereof apply to federations and confederations of workers' and employers' organisations.
Article 7
The acquisition of legal personality by
workers' and employers' organisations, 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 hereof.
Article 8
1. In exercising the rights provided
for in this Convention workers and employers and their respective organisations, like other persons or organised
collectivities, shall respect the law of the land.
2. 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 this Convention.
Article 9
1. 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.
2. In accordance with the principle set
forth in paragraph 8 of article 19 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation the
ratification of this Convention by any Member shall not be deemed to affect any
existing law, award, custom or agreement in virtue of which members of the
armed forces or the police enjoy any right guaranteed by this Convention.
Article 10
In this Convention the term organisation means any organisation
of workers or of employers for furthering and defending the interests of
workers or of employers.
9$P Part II. Protection of the Right to
Organise
Article 11
Each Member of the International Labour Organisation for which
this Convention is in force undertakes to take all necessary and appropriate
measures to ensure that workers and employers may exercise freely the right to organise.
Part III. Miscellaneous Provisions
Article 12
1.In respect of the territories
referred to in article 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation as amended by
the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation Instrument of Amendment 1946, other than the
territories referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5 of the said article as so
amended, each Member of the Organisation which
ratifies this Convention shall communicate to the Director-General of the
International Labour Office as soon as possible after
ratification a declaration stating:
a) the
territories in respect of which it undertakes that the provisions of the
Convention shall be applied without modification;
b) the territories in respect of which
it undertakes that the provisions of the Convention shall be applied subject to
modifications, together with details of the said modifications;
c) the
territories in respect of which the Convention is inapplicable and in such
cases the grounds on which it is inapplicable;
d) the
territories in respect of which it reserves its decision.
2. The undertakings referred to in
subparagraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 of this Article shall be deemed to be
an integral part of the ratification and shall have the force of ratification.
3. Any Member may at any time by a
subsequent declaration cancel in whole or in part any reservations made in its
original declaration in virtue of subparagraphs (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph 1
of this Article.
4. Any Member may, at any time at which
the Convention is subject to denunciation in accordance with the provisions of
Article 16, communicate to the Director-General a declaration modifying in any
other respect the terms of any former declaration and stating the present
position in respect of such territories as it may specify.
Article 13
1. Where the subject matter of this
Convention is within the self-governing powers of any non-metropolitan
territory, the Member responsible for the international relations of that
territory may, in agreement with the Government of the territory, communicate
to the Director-General of the International Labour
Office a declaration accepting on behalf of the territory the obligations of
this Convention.
2. A declaration accepting the
obligations of this Convention may be communicated to the Director-General of
the International Labour Office:
a) by two or
more Members of the Organisation in respect of any
territory which is under their joint authority; or
b) by any
international authority responsible for the administration of any territory, in
virtue of the Charter of the United Nations or otherwise, in respect of any
such territory.
3. Declarations communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office
in accordance with the preceding paragraphs of this Article shall indicate
whether the provisions of the Convention will be applied in the territory
concerned without modifications or subject to modification; when the
declaration indicates that the provisions of the Convention will be applied
subject to modifications it shall give details of the said modifications.
4. The Member, Members or international
authority concerned may at any time by a subsequent declaration renounce in
whole or in part the right to have recourse to any modification indicated in
any former declaration.
5. The Member, Members or international
authority concerned may, at any time at which this Convention is subject to
denunciation in accordance with the provisions of Article 16, communicate to
the Director-General a declaration modifying in any other respect the terms of
any former declaration and stating the present position in respect of the application
of the Convention.
Part IV. Final Provisions
Article 14
The formal ratifications of this
Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 15
1. This Convention shall be binding
only upon those Members of the International Labour Organisation whose ratifications have been registered with
the Director-General.
2. It shall come into force twelve
months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been
registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this Convention shall
come into force for any Member twelve months after the date on which its
ratifications has been registered.
Article 16
1. A Member which has ratified this Convention
may denounce it after the expiration of ten years from the date on which the
Convention first comes into force, by an Act communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office
for registration. Such denunciation should not take effect until one year after
the date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member which has ratified this
Convention and which does not, within the year following the expiration of the
period of ten years mentioned in the preceding paragraph, exercise the right of
denunciation provided for in this Article, will be bound for another period of
ten years and, thereafter, may denounce this Convention at the expiration of
each period of ten years under the terms provided for in this Article.
Article 17
1. The Director-General of the
International Labour Office shall notify all Members
of the International Labour Organisation
of the registration of all ratifications, declarations and denunciations
communicated to him by the Members of the Organisation.
2. When notifying the Members of the Organisation of the registration of the second ratification
communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw the attention of the
Members of the Organisation to the date upon which
the Convention will come into force.
Article 18
The Director-General of the
International Labour Office shall communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations for registration in accordance with
Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by him in accordance with the
provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article 19
At the expiration of each period of ten
years after the coming into force of this Convention, the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office shall present to the
General Conference a report on the working of this Convention and shall examine
the desirability of placing on the agenda of the Conference the question of its
revision in whole or in part.
Article 20
1. Should the Conference adopt a new
Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part, then, unless the new
Convention otherwise provides:
a) the
ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve the immediate denunciation of this Convention,
notwithstanding the provisions of Article 16 above, if and when the new
revising Convention shall have come into force;
b) as from the
date when the new revising Convention comes into force this Convention shall
cease to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention shall in any case
remain in force in its actual form and content for those Members which have
ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 21
The English and French versions of the
text of this Convention are equally authoritative.