For the European Court of Human Rights, unions are free to choose their members

Questionned by a British union condemned because it had excluded one of its members, who belonged to an extremist party, because of his racist actions, the ECHR judged that the freedom of association includes the right for the organization to freely establish its rules concerning membership conditions and to choose its members. (Ref. 070198)
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The British legislation (1992 Trade Union and Labor Relations Act) forbids unions to exclude their members because they belong to any political party. The British rail union ASLEF excluded one of its members, who belonged to an extreme right party (the BNP) because of his racist behaviour and comments. The latter referred his case to the British Court, which ordered the union to reinstate him, or, failing that, to award him damages. The ASLEF union, judging that the British legislation is viola

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