YELLOW UNION

Company union

A company or "yellow" union is a worker organisation which is dominated or influenced by an employer, and is therefore not an independent trade union. Company unions are contrary to international labour law (see ILO Convention 98, article 2). They were outlawed in the United States by the 1935 National Labor Relations Act §8(a)(2), due to their use as agents for interference with independent unions. Company unions persist in many countries, particularly with authoritarian governments.

Some labor organizations are accused by rival unions of behaving like "company unions" if they are seen as having too close and cordial a relationship with the employer, even though they may be recognized in their respective jurisdictions as bona fide trade unions.[1]

International law

A "company union" is generally recognised as being an organisation that is not freely elected by the workforce, and over which an employer exerts some form of control. The International Labor Organization defines a company union as "A union limited to a single company which dominates or strongly influences it, thereby limiting its influence."[2] Under the ILO Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) article 2 effectively prohibits any form of company union. It reads as follows.

“ 1. Workers' and employers' organisations shall enjoy adequate protection against any acts of interference by each other or each other's agents or members in their establishment, functioning or administration.

2. In particular, acts which are designed to promote the establishment of workers' organisations under the domination of employers or employers' organisations, or to support workers' organisations by financial or other means, with the object of placing such organisations under the control of employers or employers' organisations, shall be deemed to constitute acts of interference within the meaning of this Article.