Convention
concerning the Application of the Principles of the Right to Organise and to
Bargain Collectively
(Note: Date of coming into force: 18:07:1951.)
The General Conference of the
International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the
Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its
Thirty-second Session on 8 June 1949, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain
proposals concerning the application of the principles of the right to organise
and to bargain collectively, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the
session, and
Having determined that these proposals
shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts the first day of July
of the year one thousand nine hundred and forty-nine, the following Convention,
which may be cited as the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining
Convention, 1949:
Article 1
1. Workers shall enjoy adequate protection
against acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment.
2. Such protection shall apply more
particularly in respect of acts calculated to--
(a) make the
employment of a worker subject to the condition that he shall not join a union
or shall relinquish trade union membership;
(b) cause the
dismissal of or otherwise prejudice a worker by reason of union membership or
because of participation in union activities outside working hours or, with the
consent of the employer, within working hours.
Article 2
1. Workers' and employers'
organisations shall enjoy adequate protection against any acts of interference
by each other or each other's agents or members in their establishment,
functioning or administration.
2. In particular, acts which are
designed to promote the establishment of workers' organisations under the
domination of employers or employers' organisations, or to support workers'
organisations by financial or other means, with the object of placing such
organisations under the control of employers or employers' organisations, shall
be deemed to constitute acts of interference within the meaning of this
Article.
Article 3
Machinery appropriate to national
conditions shall be established, where necessary, for the purpose of ensuring
respect for the right to organise as defined in the preceding Articles.
Article 4
Measures appropriate to national
conditions shall be taken, where necessary, to encourage and promote the full
development and utilisation of machinery for voluntary negotiation between
employers or employers' organisations and workers' organisations, with a view
to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective
agreements.
Article 5
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 6
This Convention does not deal with the
position of public servants engaged in the administration of the State, nor
shall it be construed as prejudicing their rights or status in any way.
Article 7
The formal ratifications of this
Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General of the International
Labour Office for registration.
Article 8
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 9
1. Declarations communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office in accordance with
paragraph 2 of article 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour
Organisation shall indicate --
a) the
territories in respect of which the Member concerned 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 pending further
consideration of the position.
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 reservation made in its
original declaration in virtue of subparagraph (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 11, 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 10
1. Declarations communicated to the
Director-General of the International Labour Office in accordance with
paragraph 4 or 5 of article 35 of the Constitution of the International Labour
Organisation shall indicate whether the provisions of the Convention will be
applied in the territory concerned without modification or subject to
modifications; when the declaration indicates that the provisions of the
Convention will be applied subject to modifications, it shall give details of
the said modifications.
2. 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.
3. The Member, Members or international
authority concerned may, at any time at which the Convention is subject to
denunciation in accordance with the provisions of Article 11, 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.
Article 11
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 12
1. The Director-General of the
International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International
Labour Organisation of the registration of all ratifications 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 13
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 14
At such times as may consider necessary
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 15
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 11 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 16
The English and French versions of the
text of this Convention are equally authoritative.