Interim Report - Report No 76, 1964

Case No 364 (Ecuador) - Complaint date: 16-OCT-63 - Closed

1. 334. The complaint of the World Federation of Trade Unions is contained in a communication dated 16 October 1963, addressed directly to the I.L.O. This complaint was transmitted to the Government of Ecuador, which furnished its observations by a communication dated 28 February 1964.
2. 335. Ecuador has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

• Allegations relating to the Withdrawal of Legal Personality from the Confederation of Workers of Ecuador
  336. 336 In their communication the complainants allege that following the coup d'état of 11 July 1963 the Government Military Junta has continuously attacked the Confederation of Workers of Ecuador (C.T.E), which claims to be the most representative central organisation in the country. It is alleged that one of the measures taken by the Junta is the withdrawal of the Confederation's legal personality.
  337. 337 In its reply the Government declares that this assertion is incorrect and, while it is true that the said central workers' organisation launched an open political campaign identifying itself with the Ecuadorian Communist Party, thus departing from its trade union aims, the Government has respected the legal personality of the Confederation. To substantiate this statement, the Government has sent a certificate from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour declaring that the rules of the Confederation of Workers of Ecuador were approved by a Government Order, No. 646, issued on 3 March 1945, which is still fully applicable.
  338. 338 In these circumstances, the Committee considers that the complainants have not submitted sufficient proof to show that trade union rights have been violated in this respect, and therefore recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
• Allegations relating to the Detention of Trade Union Leaders
  339. 339 The complainants also allege in their communication that the principal leaders of the Executive Committee of the C.T.E and of the Provincial Federations were arbitrarily arrested without any charges being made. Among those leaders are : Victor Manuel Zúñiga, Mario Valencia, Hugo Novoa, Ecuador Romero, José Vázquez Merlo, Tránsito Amaguaña, Amadeo Alba, Luis Castro Villamar, Bolivar Sandoval (subsequently expelled from the country), Bolivar Bolaños, Jorge Calero, Fausto Moreno, Luis Vidal Monje, Efrain Obregón, José Jaramillo and Raúl Guzmán.
  340. 340 According to the complainants other craft and rural trade union leaders were arrested as well as many legal advisers in the trade union movement. The total number of persons arrested for reasons connected with their trade union amount to approximately 200.
  341. 341 The Government in its reply points out that, owing to the chaotic situation prevailing in the country as a result of political agitation promoted by communist elements who launched a wave of terrorism and open subversion of the internal order and security of the State, it proved necessary for the armed forces to intervene to defend the interests of the country. All the detained persons mentioned by the World Federation of Trade Unions were identified as terrorist elements who had carried out criminal attacks against the security of the State. They committed what are criminal offences under Ecuadorian penal law, and are now being proceeded against.
  342. 342 The Committee notes that, even though the complainants refer in general terms to an approximate total of 200 leaders and legal advisers arrested for their trade union activities, they explicitly mention a certain number of those by name. The Government recognises that those persons were arrested but explains that they were arrested because of their subversive activities. In this respect the Committee notes that in the past, where allegations that trade union leaders or workers have been arrested or detained on account of trade union activities have been met by governments with statements that the arrests or detentions were made for subversive activities, for reasons of internal security, or for common law crimes, the Committee has followed the rule that the governments concerned should be requested to submit further and as precise information as possible concerning the arrests or detentions, and the exact reasons therefor. If, in certain cases, the Committee has concluded that allegations relating to the arrests or detentions of trade union militants did not call for further examination, this has been after it has received information from the governments showing sufficiently precisely and with sufficient detail that the arrests or detentions were in no way occasioned by trade union activities but solely by activities outside the trade union sphere which were either prejudicial to public order or of a political nature.
  343. 343 In the present case the Government states that the detainees are being prosecuted for infringing the provisions of the Penal Code. In the past the Committee has followed the practice of not proceeding to examine matters which were the subject of pending national judicial proceedings where such proceedings might make available information of assistance to the Committee in appreciating whether or not allegations were well founded.
  344. 344 In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to communicate the result of the legal proceedings instituted in national courts of law against the persons mentioned and in particular, the text of the judgments given and their grounds, and, pending the receipt of such information, to postpone examination of this aspect of the case.
• Allegations relating to the Dismissal of Workers and Trade Unionists
  345. 345 The complainants allege that the Military Junta allowed the employers to dismiss workers and that it is sufficient for a trade union leader or worker to be accused of communism to be dismissed, which is an infringement of the provisions governing employment security in the Labour Code and in the collective agreements. In this connection the complainants state that 180 workers were dismissed by the Electricity Company, 50 by Quito Municipality, 120 by the San Antonio Textile Factory and 100 by the Guayaquil Municipality. In the same way a large number of telephone, telegraph and postal workers were dismissed as well as bank employees, etc., and the dismissal of some 1,000 railway workers had been announced.
  346. 346 The Government repudiates this allegation, stating that it acted to prevent a mass dismissal of workers, since on the very day on which the Military Junta assumed power it declared in a communiqué that such activities were prohibited, which was subsequently confirmed by Decree No. 564 of 27 September 1963, the text of which is attached. The Government also explains that several public bodies have been purged of extremist agents who never, in fact, were workers but devoted their time to propaganda and sabotage in different centres of employment and were obeying political instructions. As regards the dismissals which occurred in the San Antonio Textile Factory, the existing conflict was settled by the conclusion of a compromise agreement which has been forwarded by the Government.
  347. 347 The Committee notes that it is a question here, on the one hand, of mass dismissals carried out by employers, against whom the Government reacted by taking the measures mentioned above, and, on the other hand, of the dismissal of a number of persons employed in public agencies. The complainants have not distinguished between these two types of dismissals but have confined themselves to stating that the dismissals took place on the grounds that these workers were communists. The Government points out that the dismissals in public services were due to political and even subversive activities by the persons involved.
  348. 348 The Committee recalls that it has always attached great importance to the principle contained in Article 1 of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention (No. 98), adopted in 1949, by virtue of which workers should enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment, and such protection should apply more particularly in respect of acts calculated to cause the dismissal of or otherwise prejudice a worker by reason of union membership or because of participation in union activities.
  349. 349 In the present case, even though the Government claims that in the case of public agencies (including state undertakings) the dismissals carried out-which also affected union members-were due to their political and subversive activities, the complainants allege that, in general, the pretext that the workers (including the union members) were communists was used as a reason for dismissing them. That means that discrimination could have been practised against certain trade unionists as such, even though another type of reason was invoked as the declared cause. This question is of particular importance in the case of workers employed by private or state undertakings, to whom protection against discrimination on account of union membership or activities applies, as specified in the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), which has been ratified by Ecuador. In these circumstances it is important to determine to what extent internal legislation applies to the principles of this Convention and affords workers protection against acts of anti-union discrimination.
  350. 350 The Committee therefore recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to explain how the provisions contained in the said Convention No. 98 to the effect that workers should enjoy adequate protection against any acts calculated to cause their dismissal by reason of union membership or because of participation in union activities are applied in the internal legislation of the country and what procedure is available to workers to guarantee their rights in this matter, and, in the meantime, to defer its examination of this aspect of the case.
• Allegations relating to the Violation of Other Trade Union Rights
  351. 351 The complainants allege that, right from the first days of its assumption of power, the Military Junta abolished the right of assembly and the right to strike. In its reply the Government does not refer to these two allegations.
  352. 352 The Committee considers that even though the complainants have not supplied detailed information in support of this point the request for further information is justified by the importance the Committee has always attached both to the right of assembly and to the right to strike, in so far as they affect the exercise of freedom of association, and by the fact that the Government has not submitted its observations on this point. For these reasons the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to state what is the legal and factual situation as regards trade union meetings and strikes, and, pending the receipt of such information, to postpone its examination of this aspect of the case.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 353. With regard to the case as a whole the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide that the allegations relating to the withdrawal of legal personality from the Confederation of Workers of Ecuador do not call for further examination ;
   • (b) with regard to the allegations relating to the detention of trade unionists, the dismissal of workers and trade unionists and the infringement of other trade union rights, to request the Government to be good enough to furnish the information indicated in paragraphs 344, 350 and 352 respectively, and, in the meantime, to postpone examination of these aspects of the case.