Freedom of association and collective bargaining are fundamental rights and essential enablers of effective HREDD in fisheries. Where workers are unable to organise, join trade unions or bargain collectively, other abuses are more likely to occur and remain undetected.
Fishers face severe barriers to exercising these rights. Isolation at sea, fragmented employment arrangements, migrant worker dependency, and anti-migrant and anti-union practices by host state governments and employers can limit access to representation, and workers fear retaliation, loss of employment or exclusion from future work if they attempt to organise or raise concerns.
Under ILO Conventions 87 and 98, and as reflected in the OECD Guidelines and the UNGPs, freedom of association and collective bargaining are fundamental rights and enabling rights: their denial makes broader human rights violations substantially more likely. In fisheries, where no one else can reach the workforce, that denial leaves a company with no independent account of conditions in its own supply chain.
The absence of effective worker representation reduces transparency and weakens mechanisms for identifying risks related to wages, safety, forced labour and discrimination. It also limits opportunities for workers to participate in decisions affecting their working lives.
For more on freedom of association and collective bargaining, see the Risks Across Transport guidance.