The Representativeness of Trade Unions and the Principle of Equal Treatment Between the Social Partners

Abstract

The principle of equal treatment between the social partners refers to the relations within a group: between employers’ organizations, or between trade unions. It is recognised as a principle equal treatment of workers and employers regarding the freedom of coalition. ILO Freedom of Association Committee considers the principle of equal treatment between the social partners as one of the aspects of freedom of association. Representativeness is the organisation's right to represent the rights and interests of a group of employers or employees, giving the organization (organizations) exclusivity or priority in performing this function. Criteria for determining representativeness should be objective and predetermined, so as to avoid bias or abuse. In relation to trade union organizations, there are no uniform criteria for representativeness for all the aspects of its activity. The principle of equal treatment between the social partners and the principle of representativeness are opposed. Application of the principle of representativeness prevents equal treatment of all trade union organizations. The collision of principles is ultimately always the collision of values, and the procedure of balancing and restricting the use of one of them in accordance with the principle of proportionality aim to alleviate incompatibility of values relevant to the case.