Freedom of Association Summit 2021

In 2021, our virtual summit focused on two of the most important yet least talked about workers' rights: the freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. It took place between November 30—December 3 and was the culmination of a series of activities on this topic that we organised in 2021.

Our virtual summit built on what we have learned with workers, public buyers, monitoring partners and trade unions so far on the fundamental rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining. We took a deep dive into the questions of how public buyers can protect these rights, and how trade unions help to ensure social and environmental responsibility in their supply chains.

These events preceded the summit:

  • a webinar on freedom of association in public sector supply chains;
  • two workshops for monitoring partners and trade union representatives in November to explore the core challenges to freedom of association that can be addressed through the public procurement process; and
  • two workshops for affiliates in November to discuss why and how to support workers' freedom of association in public procurement, including code requirements and criteria developments.

See programme and recordings of this event