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 International
Labour Organization
 Bureau
for
Workers' Activities
CONVENTION No. 87: CONVENTION CONCERNING FREEDOM OF
ASSOCIATION
AND PROTECTION OF THE RIGHT TO ORGANIZE
Contents
Preamble
Part I. Freedom of Association
Part II.
Protection of the Right to Organize
Part III. Miscellaneous
Provisions
Part IV. Final Provisions
Convention No 169
The General Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having been convened at San Francisco by the Governing Body of the
International Labour Office, and having met in its Thirty-first Session on 17
June 1948;
Having decided to adopt, in the form of a Convention, certain proposals
concerning freedom of association and protection of the right to organize, which
is the seventh item on the agenda of the session;
Considering that the Preamble to the Constitution of the International Labour
Organization 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
Organization 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 Organize Convention, 1948:
Part I. Freedom of Association
Article 1
Each Member of the International Labour Organization 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 organization concerned, to
join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization.
Article 3
1. Workers' and employers' organizations shall have the right to draw
up their constitutions and rules, to elect their representatives in full
freedom, to organize 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' organizations shall not be liable to be dissolved or
suspended by administrative authority.
Article 5
Workers' and employers' organizations shall have the right to establish and
join federations and confederations and any such organization, federation or
confederation shall have the right to affiliate with international organizations
of workers and employers.
Article 6
The provisions of Articles 2, 3 and 4 hereof apply to federations and
confederations of workers' and employers' organizations.
Article 7
The acquisition of legal personality by workers' and employers'
organizations, 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 organizations, like other persons or organized
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 Organization 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 organization means any organization of workers or
of employers for furthering and defending the interests of workers or of
employers.
Part II. Protection
of the Right to Organize
Article 11
Each Member of the International Labour Organization 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 organize.
Part III. Miscellaneous
Provisions
Article 12
1. In respect of the territories referred to in article 35 of the
Constitution of the International Labour Organization as amended by the
Constitution of the International Labour Organization 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 Organization 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 Organization 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 Organization 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 Organization of the registration
of all ratifications, declarations and denunciations communicated to him by the
Members of the Organization.
2. When notifying the Members of the Organization of the registration
of the second ratification communicated to him, the Director-General shall draw
the attention of the Members of the Organization 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.
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