Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights

Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to freedom of assembly and association, including the right to form trade unions, subject to certain restrictions that are "in accordance with law" and "necessary in a democratic society".

Article 11 – Freedom of assembly and association

1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.
2. No restrictions shall be placed on the exercise of these rights other than such as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others. This article shall not prevent the imposition of lawful restrictions on the exercise of these rights by members of the armed forces, of the police or of the administration of the State.

• Communist Party of Germany v. the Federal Republic of Germany (1957) – proscription of the Communist Party upheld as Article 17 prohibits using Convention rights to seek the abolition or restriction of the rights of others
• Plattform "Ärzte für das Leben" v. Austria (1988) – neither police failure to ensure counter-protesters did not infiltrate and disrupt a protest, nor dispersal of protesters in order to allow another group to exercise its religion, breached article 11
• Vogt v Germany (1995) – Berufsverbot on grounds of membership in a lawful party, applied to someone who was not shown to be a threat to constitutional order, was found to be a breach of Articles 10 and 11
• Wilson and Palmer v United Kingdom [2002] ECHR 552 – lawfulness in UK law of using financial incentives to induce employees to surrender union rights was a breach of Article 11
• Yazar, Karatas, Aksoy and Hep v Turkey (2002) 36 EHRR 59 – the peaceful and democratic aims and methods of the People's Labour Party, which advocated increased political rights for Kurds, did not justify its dissolution as necessary in a democratic society, which was therefore a breach of Article 11
• Church of Scientology Moscow v Russia (2007) – rejection of registration in bad faith, with the consequent restriction of its lawful activities despite not being dissolved, was a breach of Articles 9 and 11
• ASLEF v United Kingdom (2007) – UK law prohibiting a trade union from expelling a member belonging to a political party with opinions that contradicted the purpose of the union was a breach of its freedom of association under Article 11
• Bączkowski v Poland (2007) – discriminatory ban on an LGBT pride parade was a breach of Articles 11, 13 and 14
• Demir and Baykara v Turkey [2008] ECHR 1345 – domestic courts' quashing of a collective bargaining agreement (despite recognising the right to join a union) was a breach of Article 11 as freedom of association implies a right to collective bargaining

• European Convention on Human Rights
• European labour law
• UK labour law
• German labour law

• ECtHR case-law factsheet on trade unions rights