Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 74, 1964

Case No 266 (Portugal) - Complaint date: 23-MAY-61 - Closed

1. 163. This case was examined by the Committee at its 32nd Session (May 1962), when it submitted a report to the Governing Body setting forth its final recommendations with respect to most of the allegations which had been made, as well as certain conclusions and a request for additional information in regard to the remaining allegations. This report, the 65th, was approved by the Governing Body on 29 June 1962 at the close of its 152nd Session.
2. 164. When the case was before it again at its 34th Session (May 1963), the Committee once more submitted an interim report to the Governing Body, which is contained in paragraphs 145 to 174 of the 70th Report of the Committee, adopted by the Governing Body on 1 June 1963 during its 155th Session.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 165. Paragraph 174 of the 70th Report of the Committee, which contained the Committee's recommendations to the Governing Body, was worded as follows
2. 174. In all the circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) with regard to the allegations relating to denial of the right of association to indigenous workers in Portuguese Overseas Provinces, to take note of the Government's statement that, since the repeal in September 1961 of Legislative Decree No. 39666 of 20 May 1954 (the " Native Statute "), the basic provision concerning freedom of association contained in article 8, paragraph 14, of the Portuguese Constitution and the provisions of Legislative Decree No. 23050 of 23 September 1933 respecting national trade unions are now in force for all workers in Overseas Portugal, whatever their origin, race or social condition;
   • (b) with regard to the allegations relating to the prohibition of strikes which are not outside the competence of the Committee, in so far, but only in so far, as they affect the exercise of trade union rights:
   • (i) to take note, with respect to the machinery for the settlement of disputes provided for under Portuguese legislation, of the Government's statement that the question of the issue of additional provisions to safeguard further the position of the workers was the subject of discussion at the Second National Labour Conference of the Corporative and Social Welfare Organisation in October 1962, which submitted certain conclusions to the Government concerning the establishment of conciliation and arbitration machinery, and that the best means of giving effect to those conclusions is now being considered;
   • (ii) to draw the attention of the Government once again to the fact that the right of workers and their organisations to strike as a legitimate means of defending their occupational interests is generally recognised, and to the importance which the Governing Body attaches to the principle that, where strikes by workers are restricted or prohibited, such restriction or prohibition should be accompanied by the provision of conciliation procedures and of independent and impartial arbitration machinery;
   • (iii) to express again the hope that the Government will have full regard to this principle in the course of the examination of the situation which it states is still being made with a view to the issue of additional provisions relating to the machinery for the settlement of disputes, and to request the Government to be good enough to keep the Governing Body informed of further developments in this connection;
   • (iv) to note that the Committee has deferred its further examination of the allegations relating to prosecutions for strike offences until the outcome of the examinations referred to above is known;
   • (v) to draw the attention of the Government, however, to its view that the fact that a worker who has been convicted of an offence under the legislation relating to strikes loses his political rights, with the result that he may not be a member of a trade union or a member of its management committee, is incompatible with the generally accepted principles that workers without distinction whatsoever should have the right to join organisations of their own choosing, that workers' organisations should have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom and that the law of the land should not be such as to impair, nor should it be so applied as to impair, the enjoyment of these rights.
3. 166. These conclusions were brought to the attention of the Government by a letter dated 7 June 1963, to which it replied by a communication dated 28 January 1964.
4. 167. In its reply the Government states that it has duly noted the recommendations of the Committee, and will not fail to take them into account in the revision of the national labour legislation to which it has already begun to give its attention in collaboration with the employers' and workers' organisations of the country.

168. The Committee recommends the Governing Body to take note of the Government's statement and to request the Government to be good enough to keep it informed of any developments in the situation.