ILO Convention No. 87 and the right to strike - Background material

Convention No. 87 - Preparatory work and related developments

• Text of Convention No. 87
• Resolution 52/IV adopted by the Economic and Social Council on 24 March 1947
• ILC, 30th Session, 1947, Freedom of Association and Industrial Relations, Report VII
• ILC, 30th Session, 1947, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 30th Session, 1947, Resolution concerning Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and to Bargain Collectively
• ILC, 30th Session, 1947, Resolution concerning the Agenda of the 1948 Session of the International Labour Conference
• Resolution 84/V adopted by the Economic and Social Council on 8 August 1947
• Resolution 128/II adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 17 November 1947
• ILC, 31st Session, 1948, Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, Questionnaire
• ILC, 31st Session, 1948, Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, Report VII (Supplement)
• ILC, 31st Session, 1948, Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, Report VII
• ILC, 31st Session, 1948, Industrial Relations, Report VIII(1)
• ILC, 31st Session, 1948, Record of Proceedings
• Governing Body, 131st Session, 1956, Minutes
• ILC, 40th Session, 1957, Resolution concerning the Abolition of Anti-Trade Union Legislation in the States Members of the International Labour Organisation
• ILC, 54th Session, 1970, Resolution concerning Trade Union Rights and Their Relation to Civil Liberties
• ILC, 73rd Session, 1987, Resolution concerning the 40th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No.87)
• ILC, 73rd Session, 1987, Record of Proceedings
• Governing Body, 253rd Session, 1992, Minutes
• Governing Body, 254th Session, 1992, Minutes

The Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations

• General Survey of 1959
• General Survey of 1973
• General Survey of 1983
• General Survey of 1994
• General Survey of 2012
• Committee of Experts’ report 2011

The Conference Committee on the Application of Standards

• ILC, 58th Session, 1973, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 69th Session, 1983, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 76th Session, 1989, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 77th Session, 1990, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 79th Session, 1992, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 80th Session, 1993, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 81st Session, 1994, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 85th Session, 1997, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 89th Session, 2001, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 101st Session, 2012, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 102nd Session, 2013, Record of Proceedings
• ILC, 103rd Session, 2014, Record of Proceedings

The Committee on Freedom of Association

• Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, Fifth (revised) edition, 2006, Part 10
• Governing Body, 121st Session, 1953, Minutes

Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association

• Report of the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association concerning Persons Employed in the Public Sector in Japan, 1966
• Report of the Fact-Finding and Conciliation Commission on Freedom of Association concerning the Republic of South Africa, 1992

Article 24 representations

• Report on representation alleging non-observance by Costa Rica of several Conventions, including Conventions Nos 87 and 98, 1985
• Report on representation alleging non-observance by France of several Conventions, including Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, 1987
• Report on representation alleging non-observance by Turkey of Convention No. 87, 1996
• Report on representation alleging non-observance by Denmark of Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, 1999

Article 26 complaints

• Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed to examine the observance by Greece of Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, 1969
• Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed to examine the observance by Poland of Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, 1984
• Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed to examine the observance by Nicaragua of Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 and 144, 1990
• Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed to examine the observance by Zimbabwe of Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, 2009

Rules of international law on treaty interpretation

• Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969 - Articles 5, 31 and 32
• United Nations Conference on the Law of Treaties, 7th meeting of the Committee of the Whole, 1968, statement by ILO representative W. Jenks.
• Interpretation of the Convention of 1919 concerning employment of women during the night, Advisory Opinion, PCIJ Series A/B
• Non-paper on the interpretation of international labour Conventions, ILO, February 2010 (extracts)

Selected bibliography

• Bellace, Janice R., “The ILO and the right to strike”, International Labour Review, Vol. 153, 2014, pp. 29-70
• Ben-Israel, Ruth, International Labour Standards: The Case of Freedom to Strike, 1988
• Dunning, Harold, “The origins of Convention No. 87 on freedom of association and the right to organize”, International Labour Review, Vol. 137, 1998, pp. 149-167
• Ewing, Keith D., “Myth and Reality of the Right to Strike as a ‘Fundamental Labour Right’”, The International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Vol. 29, 2013, pp. 145-166.
• Gernigon, Bernard; Odero, Alberto and Guido, Horacio, “ILO principles concerning the right to strike”, International Labour Review, Vol. 137, 1998, pp. 441-481 5,
• Hodges-Aeberhard, Jane, and Odero de Dios, Alberto, “Principles of the Committee on Freedom of Association concerning strikes”, International Labour Review, Vol. 126, 1987, pp. 543-563
• International Organisation of Employers (IOE), Do ILO Conventions 87 and 98 recognise a right to strike?, October 2014.2,85mB)
• International Organisation of Employers (IOE), Comments under Article 23.2 of the ILO Constitution concerning the application of Convention 87, September 2014
• International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), The right to strike and the ILO: The legal foundations, March 2014
• International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Observations to the Committee of Experts on Convention 87 and the Right to Strike, 2014
• Jenks, C. Wilfred, “The International Protection of Trade Union Rights” in E. Luard (ed.), The International Protection of Human Rights, 1967, pp. 210-247
• La Hovary, Claire, “Showdown at the ILO? A Historical Perspective on the Employers’ Group’s 2012 Challenge to the Right to Strike”, Industrial Law Journal, 2013, pp. 338-368
• Leader, Sheldon, “Can You Derive a Right to Strike from the Right to Freedom of Association?”, “Showdown at the ILO? A Historical Perspective on the Employers’ Group’s 2012 Challenge to the Right to Strike”, Canadian Labor and Employment Law Journal, Vol. 15, 2010, pp. 271-295
• Mackay, Paul, “The Right to Strike”, New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, Vol. 38, 2014, pp. 58-70
• Novitz, Tonia, International and European Protection of the Right to Strike, 2003
• Novitz, Tonia, “The Internationally Recognized Right to Strike: A Past, Present, and Future Basis upon Which to Evaluate Remedies for Unlawful Collective Action?”, The International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Vol. 30, 2014, pp. 357-380.
• Odero, Alberto, and Travieso, María Marta, “Le Comité de la liberté syndicale” in J.-C. Javillier and B. Gernigon (eds.), Les normes internationales du travail: un patrimoine pour l’avenir – Mélanges en l’honneur de Nicolas Valticos, 2004, pp. 159-216
• Potobsky, G. von, “Protection of Trade Unions Rights: Twenty Years’ Work by the Committee on Freedom of Association”, International Labour Review, Vol. 105, 1972, pp. 69-83
• Trebilcock, Anne, “The International Labour Organization’s approach to modern treaty law” in M. J. Bowman, and D. Kritsiotis (eds.), Conceptual and Contextual Perspectives on the Modern Law of Treaties (forthcoming).
• Servais, Jean-Michel, “ILO standards on freedom of association and their implementation”, International Labour Review, Vol. 123, 1984, pp. 765-781
• Servais, Jean-Michel, “The ILO law and the freedom to strike”, The Canadian Labour and Employment Law Journal, Vol. 15, 2010, pp. 147-163.
• Sweptson, Lee, “Crisis in the ILO Supervisory System: Dispute over the Right to Strike”, The International Journal of Comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Vol. 29, 2013, pp. 199-218.
• Wisskirchen, Alfred, “The standard-setting and monitoring activity of the ILO: Legal questions and practical experience”, International Labour Review, Vol. 144, 2005, pp. 253-289