Definitive Report - Report No 79, 1965

Case No 380 (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) - Complaint date: 06-MAR-64 - Closed

1. 61. The complaint by the African Trades Union Congress of Southern Rhodesia was submitted in a communication dated 6 March 1964 sent direct to the I.L.O. The complaint was forwarded to the Government for its observations in a letter dated 23 March 1964 and the Government replied in a letter dated 8 July 1964.
2. 62. The Government of the United Kingdom has ratified the Right of Association (Non-Metropolitan Territories) Convention, 1947 (No. 84), and has undertaken, with the agreement of the Government of Southern Rhodesia, to apply its provisions without modification to the latter country. The Government of the United Kingdom has likewise ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), but has reserved its decision as to the application of the provisions of these Conventions to Southern Rhodesia.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 63. The complainants allege that some 2,000 miners at Wankie Colliery went on strike on 2 March 1964 to demand replacement of payments in kind by payments in cash. During the strike police detachments were sent to the spot, shots were fired and one of the strikers was wounded.
2. 64. In its reply the Government gave the following explanation. On 2 March 1964 the miners at Pit No. 2, Wankie Colliery, came out on strike in support of their claim for cash payments in lieu of payment in kind. The Government declared the strike illegal because the workers had not first of all submitted their claim either to the management or to the appropriate industrial council. Accordingly, the management refused to negotiate until the strikers had gone back to work.
3. 65. The Government added that on 4 March the strike spread to Pit No. 3 and on 5 March to Pit No. 1, by which time some 4,000 workers were involved in the dispute. Acts of violence were committed and police reinforcements were sent. On 4 March, when a group of workers were destroying some of the buildings and refused to disperse, the police were compelled to open fire. The individual stated by the complainants to have been wounded belonged to this group. There were no other acts of violence, and the injured man has now completely recovered.
4. 66. The strikers went back to work on 8 March, and on 10 March an agreement was concluded which fully met their claims.
5. 67. The Government added that the complaining organisation has no members among the workers at Wankie Colliery. These workers, who are of all races, belong to the Southern Rhodesian Mine Workers' Union, which is affiliated to the Southern Rhodesian Trades Union Congress.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 68. The Committee has always observed the principle that allegations relating to the exercise of the right to strike are not outside its competence in so far as they affect the exercise of trade union rights; on many occasions the Committee has also affirmed that the right to strike of workers and workers' organisations constitutes an essential means of promoting and defending their occupational interests.
2. 69. In the present case it would appear from the explanations supplied by the Government, firstly, that the strike in question was called illegally and, secondly, that intervention by the police was due to acts of violence, in particular the destruction of buildings and the refusal by the workers concerned to disperse.
3. 70. It would also appear that the injured individual has now completely recovered. Finally, an agreement appears to have been concluded between the company and the strikers which meets all the latter's demands.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 71. Accordingly the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that no useful purpose would be served by continuing further its examination of this case.