The International Labour Organization has adopted Convention No. 87, which deals with the collective bargaining of contracts between employers and employees. So this is already enshrined in international law. Further, the Supreme Court has ruled that collective bargaining is part and parcel of international law. The Supreme Court interpreted paragraph 2(d) of the charter that way, since collective bargaining is enshrined in international law, because Canada is a signatory to the convention. So Canadian law has absorbed that principle of international law. For this reason, the Supreme Court amended decisions going back years which were counter to the interpretation applied to the case involving British Columbia's health care services.
