According to the ILO, the term “Freedom of Association” refers to the right of workers and employers to freely and voluntarily establish and join organizations of their own choice. Freedom of association is a fundamental human right proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is important as:

• It is the enabling right to allow effective participation of non-State actors in economic and social policy, central to democracy and the rule of law. Ensuring that workers and employers have a voice and are represented is, therefore, essential for the effective functioning of not only labour markets but also overall governance structures in a country.
• The right of workers and employers to form and join organizations of their own choosing is an integral part of a free and open society. In many cases, these organizations have played a significant role in their countries’ democratic transformation.

Workers form unions so that they can engage in collective bargaining. The ILO defines collective bargaining as a voluntary process through which employers and workers discuss and negotiate their relations, in particular terms and conditions of work. Participants include employers themselves or their organizations, and trade unions or, in their absence, representatives freely designated by the workers.

• The ILO states that collective bargaining allows both sides to negotiate a fair employment relationship and prevents costly labour disputes. Typical issues on the bargaining agenda include wages, working time, training, occupational safety and health, as well as equal treatment.
• According to the ILO, countries with highly coordinated collective bargaining tend to have less inequality in wages, lower and less persistent unemployment, and fewer and shorter strikes than countries where collective bargaining is less established.

There are many international instruments that affirm and guarantee the right of freedom of association. Such instruments place requirements on States to protect and respect these rights. The right to freedom of association and collective bargaining is one of five fundamental rights and principles at work which member states have to promote irrespective of whether or not they have ratified the respective conventions.

• Freedom of association is considered a fundamental right at work under the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The right of workers and employers to form and join organizations of their own choosing is also protected by two specific ILO conventions: Convention 87 and Convention 98. According to ILO standards, freedom of association and the right to organize is not only considered a labour right, but also a human right.
• As a human right, freedom of association is proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) signed in 1948. Article 23(4) of the UDHR affirms the right to form and join trade unions.
• In addition, freedom of association is affirmed in article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and article 8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), both adopted in 1966. Both provisions state that freedom of association, as a human right, includes the right to form and join trade unions to protect one’s interests. Restrictions on the right to associate freely are subject to strict conditions: any restrictions must be prescribed by law and must be necessary in a democratic society.
• Furthermore, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers pays extra attention to the case of migrant workers through explicitly recognizing the right to freedom of association in the case of migrant workers: migrant workers and members of their families have the right to join any trade union or any association.

Companies are increasingly subject to non-financial reporting and due diligence obligations in the jurisdictions in which they operate, which often include disclosures on their performance. There are several high-profile examples of national legislation that specifically mandate human rights-related reporting and other positive legal duties, including the United Kingdom Modern Slavery Act 2015, Australian Modern Slavery Act 2018, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act 2010, the French Corporate Duty of Vigilance Law 2017, German Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains 2021 and the Norwegian Transparency Act 2022.

Also, in 2021 the Netherlands submitted a Bill for Responsible and Sustainable International Business Conduct, and the European Commission announced its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). This Directive is likely to come into force between 2025 and 2027 and will make human rights and environmental due diligence mandatory for larger companies.

These mandatory due diligence and disclosure laws require companies to publicly communicate their efforts to address actual and potential human rights impacts, including violations in relation to freedom of association. Failure to comply with these obligations leads to real legal risk for companies.

Restrictions to the enjoyment of the right to freedom of association are driven by multiple underlying causes, from poor legal protections to company practices that discourage workers from organizing. Key risk factors include:

• Inadequate legal frameworks offer a poor standard of legal protections of the right to freedom of association. This includes laws preventing workers from forming their own organizations freely or requiring compulsory union membership. Some countries do not afford migrant workers and public servants the right to freedom of association, even though this is in contravention to ILO standards.
• Government interference in the formal registration process of unions: Governments may obstruct the bureaucratic process necessary for the legal recognition of trade unions, or even refuse to legally recognize unions for spurious reasons. Governments may also seek to exert influence or control over legally registered unions.
• Weak enforcement of labour laws due to inadequate training, an under-resourced labour inspectorate or high levels of corruption. These contexts can enable local companies to discriminate against workers linked to unions and other workers’ groups or subject them to extreme abuses such as kidnapping or even murder. Ineffective judicial systems may hinder workers’ ability to remedy violations.
• Obstruction of union activity by companies can take many forms, including outright refusal by companies to recognize a trade union, threat of dismissal or other forms of retaliation because of workers exercising their right to free association.
• High levels of informality in a country’s workforce are indicative of poor working conditions and limited social protections. Where there are more workers in informal arrangements or precarious employment, membership of unions or other relevant organizations is generally much lower.
• Lack of understanding of rights to freedom of association among workers: Particularly in countries with low trade union density, workers may not be fully aware of their rights to unionize or engage in collective bargaining. Poor awareness of the right to independent worker representation can act as a major deterrent in the realization of the right to freedom of association.

While barriers to the right to freedom of association exist in many industries, the following present particularly significant levels of risk. To identify potential risks to freedom of association for other industries, companies can access the CSR Risk Check.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), agricultural sector workers face particular challenges to the enjoyment of the right to freedom of association due to high levels of poverty and informality among agricultural workers.

Agriculture-specific risk factors include the following:

• Informal employment: An overwhelming majority of agricultural workers — 93.6% — are not formally employed, and therefore face additional barriers to securing the right to free association given their informal or precarious working arrangements. They are often excluded from the coverage or implementation of national labour laws and social protections. Certain categories of workers — such as migrant workers, indigenous peoples and casual, seasonal or temporary workers — are particularly vulnerable. Yet they are more likely to be forced into the informal sector where it is much more difficult to organize.
• Labour providers: A common feature of the agriculture sector is the presence of labour providers, such as employment or recruitment agencies. The Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) includes provisions concerning the right of temporary placement workers to organize; however, in practice barriers to organizing are high, making it more challenging for these workers to secure independent representation to advocate on their behalf.

IUF is the global union federation that represents agriculture workers and can be an important source of information for companies undertaking due diligence in this sector.

Construction is a rapidly growing industry, and the proliferation of third-party recruitment agencies increases the risk of workers, the majority of whom are migrants, to labour rights violations. Migrant workers who are employed by third-party recruitment agencies are particularly vulnerable to exploitative working conditions and are often denied the right to join unions.

Construction-specific risk factors include the following:

• Difficult working conditions: Working conditions are notoriously demanding and dangerous, with high levels of industrial accidents. Without the ability to join trade unions or other independent workers’ organizations, construction workers are often unable to effectively voice concerns regarding unsafe conditions.
• Wage issues: Construction workers are particularly vulnerable to late or non-payment of wages for long periods as in many instances, contractors are not obliged to pay subcontractors until they have received payment from the client. Being blocked from joining unions hinders workers from raising these concerns.
• Migrant workers: In some countries, migrant workers are prohibited by law from joining trade unions. Even if they are formally allowed to unionize, migrant workers may often find it difficult to access trade union protection. This is particularly due to the lack of formal documentation, such as resident or work visas, which may make them hesitant to seek the protection of formal institutions. In this respect, migrant workers often face limitations in accessing remedy. Even those who have formal documentation may be hesitant to unionize and avoid raising labour-related grievances for fear of losing their jobs or being deported. Migrant workers may also experience other difficulties with access to complaint mechanisms, due to language difficulties or hidden fees that they may not be able to afford.

Building and Woodworkers International is the global union federation that represents construction workers and can be an important source of information for companies undertaking due diligence in this sector.

The fashion and apparel industry is likely to be linked to violations of the right to freedom of association.

Fashion and apparel specific risk factors include the following:

• Subcontracting: The apparel manufacturing industry features a lot of subcontracting and outsourcing, which typically involves informal or casual employment arrangements. Workers in such precarious employment situations often lack union representation, making it challenging for them to secure decent working conditions.
• South-East Asia: Major apparel manufacturing countries in South-East Asia are known to resort to repressive measures to contain union activity. Unionists and workers in such countries face exacerbated risks of being subject to excessive use of force by police or arbitrary detention while engaging in union activity, such as strikes or demonstrations.

IndustriALL is the global union federation that represents textile and garment workers and can be an important source of information for companies undertaking due diligence in this sector.

The extractives industry has frequently been linked to violations of the right to freedom of association. Trade union associations are active and organized in large-scale mining (LSM), particularly through IndustriALL, the global union federation in this sector. Ongoing campaigns suggest that occupational health and safety, dismissal of workers, wages and working hours are among the most pertinent labour issues for trade unions operating in the LSM sector.

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), by contrast, remains largely informal and nonunionized, despite its significant contribution to economies of major mining countries (particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa). As a result, many ASM workers remain unprotected. IndustriALL has recently called for the formalization of ASM activities, which would mean the extension of trade union coverage to also include ASM workers.

Risk factors specific to the extractive industry include the following:

• Remote operations: Extractive operations often take place in remote or underdeveloped regions, where there are few other options in terms of employment. This puts workers in a vulnerable position, where they can feel pressured not to raise grievances related to working conditions to employers, for fear of termination of employment or receiving other sanctions. Losing employment at a mine often means the loss of a household’s only source of income.
• Difficult working conditions: Working conditions in the mining industry are often demanding and dangerous. Frequent reports of companies blocking attempts by workers to unionize or strike hinder their ability to effectively voice concerns regarding unsafe conditions.
• Labour providers: Increasingly, workers are recruited through agencies or other types of labour contractors. These workers are frequently excluded from social protections such as medical benefits, employment accident and disease benefits, and other allowances. They may also be dismissed more easily and quickly and face little prospect of their contracts being regularized. As contract workers, they face even more significant barriers to freedom of association and are put in an even more vulnerable position than workers with independent representation.

Workers in some oil and gas exporting countries face high security and human rights risks when trying to form and join unions or engage in collective bargaining. Companies may be hostile to workers’ organizations. In many countries, security providers target union leaders and prevent companies from creating associations.

The electronics manufacturing industry poses freedom of association risks, with major electronics, telecommunications and technology brands facing allegations of labour rights violations, including imposing barriers to freedom of association.

Industry-specific risk factors include the following:

• Job competition: Competition for jobs in the industry can be strong, particularly with respect to famous brands. This can result in workers, including apprentices or work experience candidates, working excessive hours without adequate rest. It also puts workers in a position where they may be hesitant to raise grievances regarding working conditions through unions or other workers’ groups.
• Students: Student workers are given compulsory placements in electronics manufacturing factories, modelled as “internships”, where they are forced to work excessive hours and often go unpaid or earn extremely low wages. These student workers are typically excluded from union representation and lack access to recourse mechanisms.
• Recruitment fees: Migrant workers are often subject to excessive recruitment fees, which often plunge them into debt bondage even before the start of employment. Their vulnerable positions put them in a situation where they are often too scared or unwilling to join trade unions.

IndustriALL is the global union federation that represents workers in the electronics sector and can be an important source of information for companies undertaking due diligence.

The hospitality sector is linked to significant freedom of association risks, particularly when it involves migrant workers or other vulnerable groups, such as individuals hired through non-traditional employment arrangements.

Hospitality-specific risk factors include the following:

• Outsourcing: Much of the hospitality sector relies on the outsourcing of services, such as cleaning, maintenance, and security. Workers who are recruited by outsourcing methods, such as through subcontractors or third-party labour suppliers, often lack worker representation or face barriers to freedom of association.
• Migrant workers in the Middle East: Migrant workers employed in countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Qatar face significant restrictions to freedom of association by law. Without intervention or facilitation by companies themselves to ensure that workers are adequately represented and have access to grievance mechanisms, migrant workers in these jurisdictions will be at significant risk of freedom of association violations.

IUF is the global union federation that represents hotel and restaurant workers and can be an important source of information for companies undertaking due diligence in this sector.

This section outlines due diligence steps that companies can take to prevent working time violations in their operations and supply chains. The described due diligence steps are aligned with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Further information on UNGPs is provided in the ‘Key Human Rights Due Diligence Frameworks’ section below or in the Introduction.

While the below steps provide guidance on working time in particular, it is generally more resource-efficient for companies to ‘streamline’ their human rights due diligence processes by also identifying and addressing other relevant human rights issues (e.g. child labour, forced labour, discrimination, freedom of association) at the same time.

As part of their policy commitment to respect human rights, companies should commit to not restricting workers’ rights to join a trade union/workers’ organization and to associate freely. Such a policy should be compliant with national laws and regulations. However, where the right to freedom of association is restricted under law, companies should find ways to allow workers to collectively express their concerns and have a dialogue with management, which is at the same time consistent with national law, and to provide assistance to business partners to do so.

Businesses may want to consider including the following aspects in their human rights policy to demonstrate their commitment to freedom of association:

• Include a reference to the ILO Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize (No. 87) and ILO Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining (No. 98);
• Formally acknowledge workers’ right to freely join organizations of their own choosing without previous authorization or fear of intimidation or reprisal;
• Include a commitment to upholding the ILO Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work;
• Commit the organization not to interfere in workers’ decisions to associate, not to influence their decision in any way and not to discriminate against workers who choose to associate;
• Recognize the right of workers to elect their own representatives without interference;
• Inform workers about the benefits of joining a union; and
• Make clear the company’s expectations toward personnel, business partners and other parties directly linked to its operations, products or services.

The policy commitment on freedom of association should:

• Be developed involving staff in key internal functions and wider labour rights expertise from inside and outside the company;
• Go through a meaningful consultation process with relevant stakeholders, particularly workers’ representative organizations;
• Be approved at the most senior level of the company;
• Be publicly available and communicated internally and externally to all staff, business partners and other relevant parties;
• Be available in relevant languages and be communicated in a manner that considers the different needs of various audiences; and
• Have appropriate internal accountability for its implementation.

Although some companies have developed stand-alone policies on freedom of association (for example, Vestas), it is most common for businesses to integrate commitments to freedom of association in other policy documents such as a human rights policy (H&M, Unilever and Coca-Cola) or a code of conduct (Meiji, Olam and General Mills).

Businesses may also consider aligning their policies with relevant industry-wide or cross-industry policy commitments, for example:

• Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) Code of Conduct
• Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code
• amfori BSCI Code of Conduct
• Fair Labor Association (FLA) Code of Conduct

Additionally, businesses could enter into a Global Framework Agreement (GFA) with the relevant global union federation that represents workers at the international sectoral level. GFAs put in place standards of trade union rights, health, safety and environmental practices, and quality of work principles across a company’s global operations, regardless of whether those standards exist in an individual country; and may also include provisions for workers’ rights in the supply chain. Examples of companies that have entered into GFAs with IndustriALL include ASOS, Inditex, BMW, Bosch and Volkswagen. The ILO, in cooperation with the European Commission, has developed a searchable database of GFAs signed by companies from around the world.

Freedom of association risk assessments are most often integrated into broader assessment of human rights impacts (for example Nestlé, Unilever and Electrolux). Understanding where in the supply chain the action on promoting freedom of association is most needed and (as a second consideration) where a company can exercise more influence are key steps.

Companies can assess freedom of association risks in countries where they operate and source from by:

• Identifying highest risk countries and regions for violations of freedom of association;
• Assessing national and local law on freedom of association to identify any gaps (such as those that restrict migrant workers or public servants from unionizing);
• Regularly engaging with national and local federations of unions and employers, civil society groups and other companies sourcing from the same country to understand industrial relations in the country of interest;
• Engaging with workers during the conduct of site visits or audits, particularly in the absence of formal unions; and
• Assessing the risks to freedom of association further down the company supply chain, including the risks related to subcontracting arrangements, which do not favour stable industrial relations or unions.

International instruments identify several actions that companies can implement to respect freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. Companies can take action at different levels, including in the workplace and in the community of operation.

Actions in the workplace:

• Recognize that all workers are free to form and/or join a trade union of their choice. Do not interfere with workers’ exercise of this right;
• Should the workers in your company choose to join or form a union, recognize it and engage in dialogue;
• Put in place non-discriminatory policies and procedures with respect to trade union organization, union membership and activity in such areas as applications for employment and decisions on advancement, dismissal or transfer;
• Provide internal training/capacity building for the direct workforce to raise awareness of the right to freedom of association and best practice;
• Provide training/capacity building for relevant business relationships (partners, suppliers, clients, etc.) that are involved with the risk/impact about how to respect workers’ right to freedom of association;
• Allow for election of free and independent workers’ representatives and recognize the duly elected representatives;
• Provide worker representatives with appropriate facilities to assist in the development of effective collective bargaining;
• Participate in good faith in collective bargaining with a view to the regulation of terms and conditions of employment by means of collective agreements;
• Consult regularly with the relevant workers’ organizations;
• Where the right to freedom of association and/or collective bargaining is restricted under law, find ways to allow the workers to collectively express their concerns and have a dialogue with management, which is at the same time consistent with national law, and provide assistance to business partners to do so;
• Consider establishing a global framework agreement with the relevant global union federation(s); consider also including provisions concerning freedom of association in the company’s supply chain;
• Screen and select new suppliers against a policy/code that recognizes the right to freedom of association for all workers; and
• Assess existing suppliers against a policy/code that recognizes the right to freedom of association for all workers.

Actions in the community/country of operation:

• Engage with peer companies to use collective action/leverage to advance respect for freedom of association;
• Engage through multi-stakeholder action/leverage to advance respect for freedom of association;
• Engage with governmental or regulatory bodies whose action/leverage can help advance respect for freedom of association; and
• Engage with other organizations or individuals whose action/leverage can help advance respect for freedom of association.

Companies can track performance on the implementation of the freedom of association action plan by conducting audits. It is, however, essential for companies to vet social auditors carefully as freedom of association has been identified as one of the weakest areas of audit practice. Auditors should be selected based on their interpersonal skills as well as specialist knowledge on freedom of association.

In addition to audits, companies could consider adopting the following strategies to track their performance:

• Reviewing termination records and exit interviews to determine if departing workers referred to discrimination based on union membership or serving as a worker representative;
• Conversations with managers and supervisors to ensure they understand and effectively implement freedom of association policy and procedures;
• Regular engagements with workers themselves through site visits, surveys or other ways of communication;
• Regular engagements with local stakeholders such as grassroots unions and NGOs to have a better sense of the local environment with respect to freedom of association;
• Periodically reviewing recruitment, selection and hiring records to ensure that there is no discrimination against job applicants with union affiliation; and
• Routinely reviewing complaints and grievances from workers related to freedom of association.

To track performance on freedom of association, businesses could also establish and track specific targets and KPIs, including:

• Percentage of workers surveyed who understand their rights to freedom of association;
• Percentage of workers who believe the company/supplier respects those rights.

Companies are expected to communicate their performance on freedom of association in a formal public report, which can be achieved via companies’ broader sustainability or human rights reporting (such as Unilever’s Human Rights reports or M&S Human Rights reports). An additional way of communication can be made via companies’ annual Communication on Progress (CoP) in implementing the Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact. Other forms of communication may include in-person meetings, online dialogues and consultation with affected stakeholders.

Freedom of association-focused remedial actions can include:

• Ensuring that workers who have been discriminated against (e.g. in hiring, job assignment, compensation, demotion or transfer) and/or unfairly dismissed due to anti-union actions have their employment reinstated with back pay;
• Ensuring that declarations of loyalty or other similar commitment not to form or join a union are not imposed as a condition for reinstatement.

Grievance mechanisms can play an important role in helping to identify and address freedom of association issues in operations and supply chains — see Tchibo, Inditex and Lego for examples of companies with grievance mechanisms for workers. The ETI guide on freedom of association notes several points to consider with regard to grievance mechanisms, including:

• Having a grievance mechanism alone is no substitute for a genuine trade union chosen by the workers;
• All stages of the grievance process should be transparent and systematically recorded; and
• Worker grievances should not be seen as a threat but as an opportunity to learn and improve a company’s policy and processes.

This section includes examples of company actions to promote freedom of association in their operations and supply chains.

Examples of further guidance on freedom of association include:

• United Nations Global Compact, The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact: The Ten Principles of the UN Global Compact provide universal guidance for sustainable business in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption. Principle 3 calls on businesses to uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
• ILO, Committee on Freedom of Association: The Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) is a searchable database of CFA conclusions in specific cases.
• ILO, Freedom of Association and Development: This resource provides ideas for employers’ organizations on how to work with trade unions, Governments and other relevant stakeholders to achieve sustainable development.
• ILO, In Search of Decent Work — Migrant Workers’ Rights: A Manual for Trade Unions: This manual is primarily targeted at trade unionists; however, companies may use it to understand the importance of protecting migrant workers’ rights and adopting a gender-sensitive approach in protecting free association rights in supply chains.
• ILO, Freedom of Association in Practice: Lessons Learned: This report provides guidance for employers’ organizations on how to engage with the informal sector to ensure free association rights. It also provides ideas on how to strengthen employers’ organizations.
• ILO Helpdesk for Business, Country Information Hub: This resource can be used to inform human rights due diligence, providing specific country information on different labour rights.
• SME Compass, Due Diligence Compass: This online tool offers guidance on the overall human rights due diligence process by taking businesses through five key due diligence phases.
• SME Compass, Standards Compass: This online tool offers guidance on what to pay attention to when selecting sustainability standards or when participating in multi-stakeholder initiatives. It allows comparing standards and initiatives with respect to their contribution to human rights due diligence and their potential limitations.
• SME Compass, Downloads: Practical guides and checklists are available for download on the SME compass website to embed due diligence processes, improve supply chain management and make mechanisms more effective.