Legal Aspects of Membership in a Trade Union: A Case Study of Lithuania

The aim of this article is to address the questions of how the principle of freedom of association and the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of trade union membership are understood and to identify legal obstacles for an effective implementation of the right to join trade unions. International, EU regional and Lithuanian national legislation, as well as the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union and Lithuanian courts have been explored to carry out the current study. The results confirm that membership can be interpreted broadly; therefore, members of a trade union may be required to possess certain working and legal capacities, as well as meet other requirements related to the trade union’s objectives, which are sometimes unreasonable. Due to possible exceptions, various members may be subject to different collective rights, for example, certain officers may not be permitted to strike, and some may not even be allowed to join associations.