Definitive Report - Report No 14, 1954

Case No 101 (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) - Complaint date: 20-MAR-54 - Closed

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 57. In a communication dated 20 March 1954, addressed to the United Nations, the World Federation of Trade Unions makes the following allegations:
   • (a) Violations of trade union rights in British Guiana are closely related to the general attacks being made on the rights and freedoms of the population of that country by the British authorities.
   • (b) One of the pretexts for arbitrary measures being taken by the authorities in British Guiana is the presentation by the regularly elected government of draft legislation to ensure that trade union organisations, on the basis of properly and democratically organised elections, should have the right to represent the workers in collective bargaining with respect to collective agreements.
   • (c) The Order issued on 16 December 1953 by the Governor prohibits the entry and distribution in British Guiana of all publications of the World Federation of Trade Unions. The measure is a clear violation of the right of trade union organisations to maintain contact with international organisations and a flagrant violation of freedom of the press.
2. 58. In accordance with paragraph 23 of the Ninth Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association, the Director-General informed the complaining organisation that any further information which it might wish to furnish in substantiation of its complaint should be communicated to him within one month. No further information has been received from the complainant.
   • ANALYSIS OF THE REPLY
3. 59. In its reply dated 27 October 1954 the Government makes the following observations.
4. 60. It is denied that any " attack " has been made on the rights and freedoms of the people of British Guiana. The Constitution was suspended in October 1953 because, through the actions of the Ministers in power, deterioration in British Guiana's efficiency of administration, economy and security threatened not only public order but the very livelihood of the people.
5. 61. The Government describes the events leading up to the presentation of the Labour Relations Bill, which is the " draft legislation " referred to by the complainant in paragraph 57 (b) above. It recalls that for many years the Man Power Citizens' Association (M.P.C.A.) has represented the main body of the sugar workers in the country and has been recognised by the employers. The rival Guiana Industrial Workers' Union (G.I.W.U.) was registered in 1948 and, in 1951 and 1952, tried unsuccessfully to call general strikes in support of its claim to recognition by the employers. In April 1953 the People's Progressive Party (P.P.P.) gained a parliamentary majority and the President of the G.I.W.U, Dr. Lachhmansingh, became Minister of Health; he also retained his union office. In August 1953 the P.P.P, after putting pressure on the employers to recognise the G.I.W.U, was responsible for calling a general strike in the sugar industry, which was called off after three weeks.
6. 62. The Minister of Labour introduced a Labour Relations Bill in the legislature, requiring employers to recognise a trade union if supported in a ballot by 52 per cent of the workers in an industry. Trade unions and employers' associations had not been consulted on the Bill, which placed wide arbitrary powers in the hands of the Minister of Labour as regards the holding of elections to determine which union should be entitled to recognition ; he could determine whether a ballot should cover a whole industry or a particular craft or undertaking within an industry and, in his discretion, who should be deemed a "worker " for the purpose of a ballot and how frequently ballots should be held. Disturbances took place when the Bill was introduced and, when the Minister of Labour sought permission to move the suspension of Standing Orders to let the Bill pass through all its stages in a single day, the Speaker refused, on the ground that this would infringe the rights of the minority in the House and he could not let a matter of such importance to the community be taken without notice. Eventually, after several days' discussion, the Bill was passed.
7. 63. These developments increased existing tension, and a resolution in the State Council expressed regret at the activities of certain Ministers in promoting and sustaining a strike and deemed this a direct threat to peace and security and asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies to take action " to ensure confidence in the Government and the proper and efficient working of the Constitution ".
8. 64. In fact, the Government contends, the Labour Relations Bill represented an attempt by interested Ministers to interfere undemocratically in a representational dispute, and its provisions could have been used by the Minister of Labour to attack any recognised trade union which he or his party disliked. The introduction of the Bill was not a " pretext " for the suspension of the Constitution-the disorderly incidents attending that event were simply a culmination of the course of ministerial behaviour which made this step necessary.
9. 65. The Government of British Guiana has found it necessary in the general public interest to take powers to ban undesirable publications. The publications of the W.F.T.U have been deemed to be subversive in the light of local circumstances. But the ban is of general application and not restricted to trade unions.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

• Allegation relating to Attacks on the Rights and Freedoms of the People of British Guiana
  66. 66 The complainant protests against alleged violations of trade union rights in British Guiana and considers that such violations are closely related to the " general attacks " being made on the rights and freedoms of the population of that country by the British authorities. In its reply, the Government rejects outright the allegation that there has been any " attack " on the rights and freedom of the people of British Guiana, and declares that the action taken to suspend the Constitution in October 1953 was necessary because the Ministers in power had reduced the country to a state where the rapid deterioration in the efficiency of its administration, in its economy and in its security threatened not only public order but the very livelihood of the people.
  67. 67 The Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that this allegation is purely political in character and that it is therefore undesirable to pursue the matter further.
• Allegation relating to the Taking of Arbitrary Measures because the Elected Government Introduced a Labour Relations Bill
  68. 68 The essence of this allegation is that the introduction in the British Guiana House of Parliament of a Bill to provide for the election of trade unions as collective bargaining agents with the right to represent the workers in the negotiation of collective agreements was taken as one of the pretexts for the adoption of arbitrary measures by the authorities. The complainant does not define the alleged arbitrary measures and it can only be supposed that reference is intended to the political measures taken to suspend the Constitution and the other measures taken by the Government of the United Kingdom in connection with the government and administration of British Guiana.
  69. 69 The complainant offers no evidence that restrictions are placed on the right of trade unions to represent the workers in collective bargaining under the existing industrial relations system. The Government, in its reply, not only differs from the complainant with respect to the meaning and intention of the Bill, which, it considers, amounted to an attempt by interested Ministers to interfere undemocratically in a representational dispute and would have enabled them to attack any recognised union which they disliked, but states, on the one hand, that a certain union has for many years concluded collective agreements on behalf of workers in the sugar industry and has been voluntarily recognised by the employers and that, on the other hand, " the introduction of the Bill was in no way a pretext for the suspension of the Constitution ; the disorderly incidents leading up to and surrounding this event were merely a culmination of the whole course of ministerial behaviour which made this step necessary ".
  70. 70 In these circumstances, the Committee considers that this allegation is not only not substantiated by evidence of definite violations of trade union rights but relates to events of a purely political character and that it is, therefore, undesirable to pursue the matter further.
• Allegations relating to the Prohibition of Publications of the World Federation of Trade Unions in British Guiana
  71. 71 It is alleged that an Order issued by the Governor on 16 December 1953 prohibits the entry and distribution in British Guiana of all publications of the W.F.T.U and that this violates the right of the trade unions in that country to maintain contact with international organisations. The Government states that the publications of the W.F.T.U have been deemed to be " subversive in the light of local circumstances ", but that the power to ban undesirable publications in the public interest is of general application and not restricted to trade unions.
  72. 72 The Committee has already, on a number of occasions', emphasised that the principle that national organisations of workers should have the right to affiliate with international organisations carries with it the right for these organisations to make contact with one another and, in particular, to exchange their trade union publications. In Case No. 75 (France-Madagascar), the Committee suggested that a similar prohibition should be re-examined " in the light of the principle that trade union organisations should have the right to distribute the publications in which their programmes are formulated, with a view to distinguishing among the publications of the World Federation of Trade Unions between those which deal with problems normally regarded as falling directly or indirectly within the competence of trade unions and those which are obviously political or anti-national in character ".
  73. 73 While recognising that the right to express opinions through newspapers or publications is certainly an essential element in trade union rights, the Committee considers that trade union organisations, when issuing their publications, should have regard, in the interests of the development of the trade union movement, to the principles enunciated by the International Labour Conference at its 35th Session " for the protection and independence of the trade union movement and the safeguarding of its fundamental task of advancing the social and economic well-being of the workers ".
  74. 74 In the present case the complainant has not, as it did in the Madagascar case, communicated to the Committee publications which it states were purely occupational in character. The Committee, while recognising that there may be cases in which it is impossible or administratively impracticable to distinguish between the publications of a particular organisation which are of an occupational character and those which are political in character, emphasises the importance which it attaches to such a distinction being drawn wherever feasible, but considers that on the facts of the present case no evidence has been produced to show that the circulation of purely occupational publications has been restricted.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 75. In all the circumstances, subject to the observations made above, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that the case as a whole does not call for further examination.