Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 17, 1956

Case No 109 (Guatemala) - Complaint date: 13-AUG-54 - Closed

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 99. The Committee had before it the three following complaints : a protest addressed to the President of the Military Junta of the Guatemalan Government on 13 August 1954 by the Burma Trade Union Congress, a copy of which was transmitted to the I.L.O; a complaint dated 17 September 1954 presented by the Pancyprian Federation of Labour and transmitted to the I.L.O by the United Nations ; a complaint dated 18 October 1954 presented by the General Netherlands Seafarers' Union, also transmitted to the I.L.O by the United Nations.
2. 100. These complaints contain the following two allegations:
   • (a) a number of trade union leaders have been arrested or persecuted by the Government of Guatemala;
   • (b) the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala have been illegally prohibited.
3. 101. With regard to the first allegation the Committee, after noting the observations presented by the Government, recommended the Governing Body, in an interim report, to decide that the allegation does not call for further examination.
4. 102. With regard to the allegation relating to the dissolution of the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala, the Committee, noting that the Government of Guatemala had not furnished observations on this point, recommended the Governing Body simply to take note of the interim report, it being understood that it would present a further report when it was in possession of the observations of the government concerned.
5. 103. The Government of Guatemala having presented its observations, on 19 April 1955, with respect to the dissolution of the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala, the Committee is now in a position to proceed with its examination of the second allegation.
   • ANALYSIS OF THE GOVERNMENT'S REPLY
6. 104. The Government states that the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala were dominated by Communist political leaders. They installed a reign of terror which gave rise to a revolutionary movement culminating in the overthrow of the Government in power. All the leaders of the two organisations took refuge in the premises of the different diplomatic missions ; having obtained safe-conducts, they left the country.
7. 105. In these circumstances the Government, through the organ endowed with legislative power by virtue of the Political Statute at present in force, promulgated Decree No. 48 dissolving the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala.
8. 106. The Government maintains that in decreeing the dissolution of the two organisations it has not intended to infringe freedom of association or, in particular, to act in a manner contrary to the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (No. 87), 1948, ratified by Guatemala. In support of this argument it points out that the two organisations were dissolved in accordance with the provisions of the laws in force. Further, the measure was decreed by legislative means, a method which, in the view of the Government, is not contrary to Articles 4 and 6 of Convention No. 87.

107. The principal allegation relates to the fact that the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala have been arbitrarily dissolved, their dissolution being pronounced by Decree No. 48 promulgated by the Government Junta on 10 August 1954. The text may be summarised as follows Article 1 declares the dissolution of, among other organisations, the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala. Under article 2 legal personality is withdrawn from the organisations referred to in article 1. Article 6 specifies that the decree is a security measure. The decree is signed by the members of the Government Junta.

1. 108. Contrary to the complaining organisations, which allege that the prohibition of the two organisations was illegal, the Government maintains that the measure is in accordance with the laws in force and is not contrary to Articles 4 and 6 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (No. 87), 1948, ratified by the Government.
2. 109. With regard to the legislation at present in force in Guatemala, the Committee notes that a Political Statute of the Government of Guatemala promulgated on 10 August 1954 has replaced the Constitution previously in force. Article 1 of this text provides that the Republic of Guatemala will be governed by the fundamental provisions contained in the Statute until such time as the people, exercising its sovereignty, shall elect a national assembly and adopt a new Constitution. Further, the Constitution dated 11 March 1945 is declared abrogated by article 44 of the new Statute. However, article 15 of the Statute guarantees freedom of association within the limits prescribed by law.
3. 110. The relevant legislation with respect to trade unions is to be found in articles 206 to 238 of the Labour Code of Guatemala dated 8 February 1947. This Code was kept in force by virtue of Decree No. 216 of 31 January 1955. According to article 226 of the Code the labour and social welfare tribunals are competent to order, if so required by the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, the dissolution of trade unions, if it is established, for example, by legal proceedings:
4. "...that the association intervenes in electoral affairs or party politics, that it acts in the service of foreign interests contrary to the interests of Guatemala, that it initiates or promotes religious or racial rivalry, that it carries on activities antagonistic to the democratic system established by the Constitution, that it obeys instructions of an international character contrary to the said system, or that it violates in any other manner the provision laid down in section 206, in pursuance of which an industrial association is bound to limit its activities to the furthering and defence of the economic and social interests common to its members."
5. 111. It would appear, therefore, that it is the function of the labour tribunals to order the dissolution of a trade union organisation when it is proved that it has been guilty of an act specified in article 226 of the Code.
6. 112. The Government maintains further that the Political Statute promulgated by Decree No. 48 is not contrary to Articles 4 and 6 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (No. 87), 1948, which Guatemala has ratified, as the Committee has already noted in its interim report.
7. 113. Under Article 4 of Convention No. 87 workers' and employers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by administrative authority. According to Article 6 the provisions of Article 4 also apply in the case of federations and Confederations of workers' and employers' organisations.
8. 114. The Government maintains that, while the Convention prohibits dissolution by administrative authority, the measure has been taken not by administrative authority but by the organ endowed with legislative power.
9. 115. The Political Statute at present in force in the Republic of Guatemala makes the following provision with regard to the division of powers :
10. "Article 2. Public power will be exercised exclusively by the Government Junta within the limits prescribed by this Statute and in accordance with the laws.
11. " Article 3. The Military Junta will exercise legislative power; consequently, it is responsible for initiating legislation and for the preparation, promulgation, abrogation and interpretation of laws.
12. " Article 4. Executive, administrative and regulatory functions will be exercised by the Government Junta.
13. ......................................................................................................................................................
14. " Article 7. The Republic of Guatemala fulfils its international obligations; it will regulate its acts according to treaties and pacts intended to base democracy on absolute respect for the rights of the citizen ..."
15. 116. It would appear from this text that the Government Junta exercises simultaneously executive and legislative power. The Committee, while recognising that the Government of Guatemala intends to respect its international obligations in accordance with article 7 of the Political Statute, observes that Decree No. 48 pronouncing the dissolution of the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala was promulgated by the Government and considers that dissolution by the executive branch of the Government acting in the exercise of legislative functions with which it is endowed by virtue of its act of Constitution, like dissolution by virtue of administrative powers, does not ensure the right of defence which normal judicial procedure alone can guarantee and to which the Committee continues, in accordance with the views which it has expressed in other cases", to attach the greatest importance.
16. 117. The Committee notes that the Government of Guatemala has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (No. 87), 1948, and is, therefore, bound to apply its provisions, including the provision that workers' and employers' organisations and federations and Confederations of such organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by administrative authority.
17. 118. The Committee also notes, however, that the Government of Guatemala dissolved the General Confederation of Labour and the Confederation of Peasants of Guatemala during a period of serious internal troubles comparable to actual civil war, circumstances to which the Committee has already had regard when considering measures taken by a Government against trade union organisations implicated in such events.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 119. It would appear, however, that the situation in Guatemala is now tending to return to normal. In these circumstances the Committee, having regard to the fact that the Government of Guatemala has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (No. 87), 1948, and is therefore bound to apply its provisions, recommends the Governing Body
2. 1. To draw the attention of the Government of Guatemala to the desirability of taking all necessary measures to ensure:
   • (i) that free and independent central workers' and peasants' organisations, as well as their affiliated unions and federations, may reconstitute themselves in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (No. 87), 1948 ;
   • (ii) that the organisations enjoy freedom to draw up their statutes and rules, to elect their representatives, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes in accordance with the principles laid down in Articles 3 and 6 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 ;
   • (iii) that these organisations may affiliate freely with international organisations of workers, in accordance with the principle laid down in Article 5 of that Convention.
3. 2. To express its desire to be kept informed as to the results of the measures taken by the Government with a view to giving full effect to the provisions of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention (No. 87), 1948.