International Labor Organization, Committee on Freedom of Association

The International Labor Organization (ILO) promulgated international labor standards. The United States (defendant) was a member of the ILO but had not ratified two international labor conventions relating to employees’ rights to freedom of association (Convention No. 87) and to organize and collectively bargain (Convention No. 98). The ILO’s Committee on Freedom of Association (the committee) was responsible for examining complaints alleging infringements of associational and organizational rights and issuing recommendations to member nations. In a case before the committee, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (the union) (plaintiff) alleged that the relative difficulty under American labor law of non-employee union representatives to access employees in their workplaces was inconsistent with Conventions Nos. 87 and 98. Specifically, the union argued that the United States Supreme Court had prioritized private property rights over rights of freedom of association in Lechmere, Inc. v. NLRB. The United States responded that its law with respect to nonemployee union representatives appropriately balanced the interests of employees with the employers’ private-property rights by considering whether union representatives have reasonable alternative means of communicating with employees. The committee was called on to consider whether American decisional law on the access issue complied with international labor standards as embodied in Conventions Nos. 87 and 98.