A group of employees at Renewable Energy (Pty) Ltd ('RE') decide to form a trade union which will represent their interests during collecting bargaining and when they have grievances or disputes with RE. When RE heard about this, it sent out an email to all employees within the workplace informing them that 'employees are not allowed to form trade unions within RE, because trade unions bring politics into the workplace'. Discuss the protection of employees' right to freedom of association in terms of international law, the Constitution and the LRA