Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Freedom of association for workers and trade unions sits at the epicentre of labour law. Historically, trade union rights were implemented through detailed statutory rules and labour codes regulating the right to organise, collective bargaining, and the right to strike. Over the last five decades, the political and economic context supporting collective bargaining has become more hostile. Workers and trade unions have engaged with the general constitutional right to freedom of association to challenge restrictive labour laws and policies. This monograph examines the tectonic encounter between labour law and human rights law in the sphere of freedom of association. These encounters have been prominent in the UK, under the European Convention of Human Rights, and in Canada. Those jurisdictions provide the focus of the book. It identifies a coherent pattern of jurisprudence that distinguishes between ‘individual’ and ‘collective’ dimensions of freedom of association. In ‘individual’ cases, when the equal moral standing of workers is threatened, for example because they are victimised by employers or trade unions, the courts have intervened to protect workers from abuse of power. When the ‘collective’ dimension of freedom of association is at issue, for example in determining ‘representative’ bargaining agents, the courts have deferred to democratic legislatures. Drawing upon examples from the personal scope of trade union rights, collective bargaining, the right to strike, and the closed shop, this monograph defends a vision of freedom of association that respects both the equal moral standing of workers and the autonomy of labour law.</jats:p>