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-seventh Session on 3 June 1981, and
Reaffirming the provision of the Declaration of Philadelphia recognising “the solemn
obligation of the International Labour Organisation to further among the nations of
the world programmes which will achieve... the effective recognition of the right
of collective bargaining”, and noting that this principle is “fully applicable to
all people everywhere”, and
Having regard to the key importance of existing international standards contained
in the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948, the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, the Collective Agreements Recommendation, 1951, the Voluntary Conciliation and Arbitration
Recommendation, 1951, the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention and Recommendation, 1978, and the Labour Administration Convention and Recommendation, 1978, and
Considering that it is desirable to make greater efforts to achieve the objectives
of these standards and, particularly, the general principles set out in Article 4 of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949, and in Paragraph 1 of the Collective Agreements Recommendation, 1951, and
Considering accordingly that these standards should be complemented by appropriate
measures based on them and aimed at promoting free and voluntary collective bargaining,
and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to the promotion
of collective bargaining, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this nineteenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and eighty-one
the following Convention, which may be cited as the Collective Bargaining Convention,
1981:
