CONVENTION No. 87 Convention concerning Freedom of Association andProtection of the Right to Organize
CONVENTION No. 87 Convention concerning Freedom of Association andProtection of the Right to Organize
[Date of coming into force: 4 July 1950.]
Whole document
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 this
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
authorisation.
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 with or as soon as possible after its
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 subparagraph (b), (c) or (d) of paragraph 1 of this Article.
4. Any Member 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 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 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.
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 of
the International Labour Office 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 ratification 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 shall 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, declarations and acts of
denunciation registered by him in accordance with the provisions of the
preceding Article.
Article 19
At such times as it 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 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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