Establishment of federations and confederations (Right of workers' and employers' organizations to establish federations and confederations and to affiliate with international organizations of employers and workers)

606. The principle laid down in Article 2 of Convention No. 87 that workers shall have the right to establish and join organizations of their own choosing implies for the organizations themselves the right to establish and join federations and confederations of their own choosing.

(See the Digest of 1985, para 506.)

607. The acquisition of legal personality by workers' organizations, federations and confederations shall not be made subject to conditions of such a nature as to restrict the exercise of the right referred to in the preceding paragraph.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 507.)

608. A workers' organization should have the right to join the federation and confederation of its own choosing, subject to the rules of the organizations concerned, and without any previous authorization. It is for the federations and confederations themselves to decide whether or not to accept the affiliation of a trade union, in accordance with their own constitutions and rules.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 521.)

609. A provision whereby a minister may, at his discretion, approve or reject an application for the creation of a general confederation is not in conformity with the principles of freedom of association.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 508.)

610. The question as to whether a need to form federations and confederations is felt or not is a matter to be determined solely by the workers and their organizations themselves after their right to form them has been legally recognized.

(See the Digest of 1985, para 509.)

611. The requirement of an excessively high minimum number of trade unions to establish a higher-level organization conflicts with Article 5 of Convention No. 87 and with the principles of freedom of association.

(See 297th Report, Case No. 1767, para. 298.)

612. Legislation which prevents the establishment of federations and confederations bringing together the trade unions or federations of different activities in a specific locality or area is incompatible with Article 5 of Convention No. 87.

(See the Digest of 1985, para 510.)

613. When only one confederation of workers may exist in a country, and the right to establish federations is limited to such federations as may be established by the unions mentioned in the law, as well as such new unions as might be registered with the consent of the minister, this is incompatible with Article 5 of Convention No. 87.

(See the Digest of 1985, para 511.)

614. All workers should have the right to engage freely in the defence and promotion of their economic and social interests through the central organizations of their own choice.

(See 241st Report, Case No. 1040, para. 84.)

615. Importance has been attached by the Committee to the right to form federations grouping unions of workers engaged in different occupations and industries. In this connection, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations pointed out, in respect of a provision of national law prohibiting organizations of public officials from adhering to federations or confederations of industrial or agricultural organizations, that it seemed difficult to reconcile this provision with Article 5 of Convention No. 87. It indicated, in the same observation, that while the legislation permitted organizations of public officials to federate among themselves and that the resulting federation would be the only one recognized by the State, these provisions did not appear to be compatible with Article 6 of the Convention, which refers to Article 2 of the Convention with respect to the establishment of federations and confederations and adhesion to these higher organizations. According to these provisions of the Convention, trade union organizations should have the right to establish and to join federations or confederations "of their own choosing without previous authorization".

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 512.)

616. A provision prohibiting the establishment of federations by unions in different departments constitutes a restriction of the right of workers' organizations to establish federations and confederations, recognized by Article 5 of Convention No. 87.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 513.)

617. Conditions laid down by law for the establishment of federations, and in particular a condition that founding unions based in different provinces must first ask permission (which may be refused) from the minister, are incompatible with the generally accepted principles of freedom of association, which include the right of trade unions to establish and join federations of their own choosing.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 514.)

618. Any restriction, either direct or indirect, on the right of unions to establish and join associations of unions belonging to the same or different trades, on a regional basis, would not be in conformity with the principles of freedom of association.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 515.)

619. The preferential rights granted to the most representative organizations should not give them the exclusive right to set up federations and affiliate with them.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 516.)

620. A government's refusal to permit agricultural unions to affiliate with a national centre of workers' organizations comprising industrial unions is incompatible with Article 5 of the Convention.

(See the Digest of 1985, para. 517.)