Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 84, 1965

Case No 403 (Burkina Faso) - Complaint date: 21-MAY-64 - Closed

1. 32. The complaint of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (I.C.F.T.U.) is contained in a communication of 21 May 1964 addressed direct to the I.L.O. In a communication of 10 July 1964, also received direct, the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions (I.F.C.T.U.) made a complaint based on the same facts as those alleged by I.C.F.T.U. These complaints were communicated to the Government by two letters dated respectively 29 May and 17 July 1964, and the Government offered its observations on them in a communication dated 17 March 1965.
2. 33. The Republic of Upper Volta has 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).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 34. The complainants allege that on 24 April 1964 the National Assembly of Upper Volta adopted an Act (a copy of which was enclosed with the I.F.C.T.U complaint), prohibiting the affiliation of national trade unions with international trade union Confederations. Under this Act only affiliation with African Confederations, consisting exclusively of national African trade unions, is authorised. The Act states that the trade unions are granted a period of three weeks from the date of its promulgation for notification of their resignation from the international trade union Confederations and that, in the event of refusal to observe this provision, the trade unions shall be regarded as illegal and their dissolution may be pronounced by decree.
2. 35. I.C.F.T.U states in its complaint that on 13 May 1964, that is to say within the period laid down by the Act, the Free Trade Union Organisation of Upper Volta, a member of I.C.F.T.U, informed the latter " with regret that in pursuance of the Act of 24 April 1964 it had been compelled to decide to resign from I.C.F.T.U. ".
3. 36. The Government states in its reply that it felt obliged to place before the National Assembly the Bill of 24 April 1964 to prohibit the affiliation of national trade unions with international trade union Confederations "in order to put an end to the purely political interference of some of them in our internal affairs ". The Government asserts that " political stability and internal order are the surest safeguard for the application of national and international standards " and that " when there are grave indications of a possible threat to political stability and internal order it is the bounden duty of any responsible government to take the necessary protective action ". Therefore, concludes the Government, it " categorically rejects the accusations of I.C.F.T.U and I.F.C.T.U, which know nothing of our national requirements and only seek to outbid one another for the custom of African workers ".

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 37. The Committee observes firstly that, in order to justify the promulgation of the Act complained of the Government invokes in its reply purely political interference in the internal affairs of the country of a nature to threaten established order and political stability. Under Article 8 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), workers' organisations, like other persons or organised collectivities, shall respect the law of the land. However, the second paragraph of the same Article provides that the law of the land shall not be such as to impair, nor shall it be so applied as to impair, the guarantees provided for in the Convention.
2. 38. Reference to the actual text of the Act shows that it prohibits the affiliation of national trade unions with international trade union Confederations. The Committee wishes to point out, as it has done in the past, that the right of national workers' organisations to affiliate with international workers' organisations is clearly laid down in Article 5 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), ratified by Upper Volta, which provides that " any such Organisation, federation or Confederation shall have the right to affiliate with international organisations of workers ".
3. 39. The Committee has also observed, from the text of the Act, that national organisations affiliated with an international organisation before the promulgation of the Act are liable to be dissolved by decree if they refuse to resign within a given period. As the Committee has pointed out on many occasions, under Article 4 of Convention No. 87 workers' and employers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved by administrative authority. Dissolution by decree would mean that the Organisation dissolved had not enjoyed all the safeguards attaching to due process of law, and it would accordingly be an infringement of Article 4 of the above-mentioned Convention, to which Upper Volta is a party and by which it is therefore bound.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 40. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to draw the particular attention of the Government of Upper Volta to the fact that, since Upper Volta has assumed the obligations arising out of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), it is bound to apply the provisions of this Convention, like those of the other Conventions that it has ratified;
   • (b) to draw the attention of the Government to the importance that should be attached to the principle, embodied in Article 5 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), that national workers' and employers' organisations shall have the right to affiliate with international organisations of workers and employers;
   • (c) to express the view that the dissolution by decree of a trade union organisation is a measure involving infringement of Article 4 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), under which workers' and employers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved by administrative authority;
   • (d) to urge the Government of Upper Volta to take all necessary measures to ensure that both its practice and its legislation are in conformity with the provisions of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), to which Upper Volta is a party, and to request the Government to keep the Governing Body informed of its action in this connection;
   • (e) to draw the attention of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations to the above conclusions.