The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its Sixty-fourth Session on 7 June 1978, and
Noting the terms of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948, the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, and the Workers' Representatives Convention and Recommendation, 1971, and
Recalling that the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, does not cover certain categories of public employees and that the Workers' Representatives Convention and Recommendation, 1971, apply to workers' representatives in the undertaking, and
Noting the considerable expansion of public-service activities in many countries and
the need for sound labour relations between public authorities and public employees'
organisations, and
Having regard to the great diversity of political, social and economic systems among
member States and the differences in practice among them (e.g. as to the respective
functions of central and local government, of federal, state and provincial authorities,
and of state-owned undertakings and various types of autonomous or semi-autonomous
public bodies, as well as to the nature of employment relationships), and
Taking into account the particular problems arising as to the scope of, and definitions
for the purpose of, any international instrument, owing to the differences in many
countries between private and public employment, as well as the difficulties of interpretation
which have arisen in respect of the application of relevant provisions of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, to public servants, and the observations of the supervisory bodies of the
ILO on a number of occasions that some governments have applied these provisions in
a manner which excludes large groups of public employees from coverage by that Convention,
and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to freedom of association
and procedures for determining conditions of employment in the public service, which
is the fifth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,