Workers sign up to join a union at Choi and Shin factory in Guatemala

Freedom of association and the right to organize can be summarized as the right of workers and employers to establish and to join organizations of their own choosing without any prior authorization or government interference. Combined with the inter-related right to bargain collectively, it also means that trade unions and their members are free from anti-union discrimination, and that voluntary negotiation between employer organizations and worker organizations will be protected and promoted. The right to strike is also widely recognized as an "intrinsic corollary" of the right of association, meaning it cannot be seen in isolation from industrial relations as a whole.

These rights and principles form the cornerstone of effective labor relations systems internationally. As such, they are enshrined in various ILO conventions, declarations, and recommendations - from the ILO's Constitution of 1919 through the ILO's Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights of 1998. International and regional human rights instruments also refer to these inherent human rights. Indeed, the international community's relatively consistent treatment of these rights over the past century highlights their universal acceptance internationally. As one labour expert put it, freedom of association is a kind of customary rule in common law, standing outside or above the scope of any conventions or even of membership of one or another of the international organizations.