Definitive Report - Report No 90, 1966

Case No 432 (Portugal) - Complaint date: 23-FEB-65 - Closed

1. 30. The complaint of the World Federation of Trade Unions is contained in a communication addressed directly to the I.L.O on 23 February 1965. It was transmitted to the Government of Portugal for its observations, and the Government replied by a communication dated 30 June 1965.
2. 31. Portugal 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

1. 32. The complainant organisation alleged first, in general terms, that the campaigns for better living and employment conditions waged in recent years by workers in the cork, textile, fishing and other industries had been met by repression, mass arrests of workers and sentences to long terms of imprisonment, reinforced by-called " security measures ".
2. 33. The complainant organisation cited in particular the case of Mr. José Rodrigues Vitoriano, a former worker in the cork industry and Past President of the Silves Cork, Workers' Union.
3. 34. The complainants alleged that, after having earned general respect among the workers for his activities as a union leader, he was arrested in 1948 and tried on a false charge of having used his official position to enable him to take part in the activities of the underground workers' movement. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' imprisonment, after which he was detained for a further six months. In 1953 he was charged with offences against the security of the State and, after having been refused by the courts any opportunity to defend himself against the charges, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment. In 1957, when his term of imprisonment was nearing its end, he was accused of " engaging in subversive activities inside the fortress of Caxias ", where he was imprisoned, " with a view to overthrowing the Government by force "-a charge, according to the complainants, based solely on his adherence to the Caxias Fortress Solidarity Movement. The complainants alleged that abundant evidence was produced at his trial to show that such solidarity movements among political prisoners had always existed in Portugal and that they were humanitarian movements of no political significance. He was, however, sentenced to five years' imprisonment, subject to prolongation under the " security measures " for from one to three, years, and 15 years' suspension of political rights.
4. 35. In its communication dated 30 June 1965 the Government, after denying that there, was or had been any kind of repression of workers who sought to exercise trade union rights, stated that Mr. José Rodrigues Vitoriano had been sentenced to two-and-a-half years' imprisonment, on 30 June 1948, for having engaged, as a member of a subversive secret organisation, in criminal activity aimed at overthrowing the Portuguese Constitution and changing the form of government by violent means. After being released on 6 May 1951, the Government stated, he was sentenced on 22 January 1952 to four years' imprisonment on further charges. While serving his sentence, the Government explained, he committed further criminal acts, for which he was sentenced to six-and-a-half years' imprisonment plus detention for not more than three years. Concluding, the Government stated that his sentence had not yet been completely served.
5. 36. The case came before the Committee at its 41st Session, held in November 1965; the Committee recalled that, on many occasions in the past on which allegations that trade union leaders or workers had been detained for trade union activities had been met by: governments with statements that the detentions had in fact been made for subversive activities, reasons of internal security or common law crimes, the Committee had consistently followed the rule that the governments concerned should be requested to submit further and as precise information as possible concerning the detentions and the exact reasons therefor. The Committee also recalled that, in cases in which it had concluded that allegations relating to the arrest or detention of trade union militants did not call for further examination, it had done so only after it had received information from the governments showing sufficiently precisely and with sufficient detail that the arrests or detentions had in no way been 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. Lastly, it recalled that where cases had been the subject of judicial proceedings in national courts and it had taken the view that such proceedings might make available information of assistance to it in appreciating whether or not the allegations made were well-founded, it had always requested the governments concerned to communicate to it the text of the judgments given and of the reasons adduced therein.
6. 37. The Committee noted that in the present case the Government had replied in general terms to the effect that Mr. José Rodrigues Vitoriano had been sentenced originally, on 30 June 1948, on charges of having engaged in criminal activity aimed at overthrowing the Portuguese Constitution and changing the form of government by violent means, and that on two subsequent occasions he had been sentenced to terms of imprisonment of four years and six-and-a-half years for having committed criminal acts the nature of which the Government did not specify.
7. 38. The Committee accordingly asked the Director-General to request the Government, on its behalf, to be good enough to furnish copies of the three judgments given in the case of, Mr. José Rodrigues Vitoriano and of the reasons adduced therein.
8. 39. The request was communicated to the Government by a letter dated 22 November 1965, and the Government replied by a communication dated 25 January 1966.
9. 40. It appears from the copies of the judgments furnished by the Government that Mr. José Rodrigues Vitoriano was convicted by the Lisbon courts of offences under section 173, paragraph 1, first part of the Penal Code. The most recent judgment delivered by the Lisbon Criminal Court states that he had admitted of his own accord to being a member of the Portuguese Communist Party and had, as an " official " of that Party-" a subversive secret organisation which aims at abolishing the present form of government by unconstitutional means-engaged in Party activities; he was found guilty of " having received and paid for the Communist propaganda newspapers Avante and Militante, of having paid contributions, of having collected funds for the Party by buying and selling lottery tickets, of having attended meetings at which members of the Party hierarchy were in the chair, of having been in touch with officials and other members of the Party, of having recruited new members for the Party and of having organised and directed Communist cells ".

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 41. It appears from the charges upon which Mr. José Rodrigues Vitoriano was convicted, as shown in the certified photo-copies of the judgments communicated by the Government, that he seems to have engaged in activities outside the sphere of normal trade union activities. Apart from stating that he was a trade union leader, the complainants gave no information and mentioned no circumstances capable of establishing a link between his trade union position or activities and the action taken against him.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 42. In these circumstances the Committee considers that the complainants have not supplied evidence that a violation of trade union rights had in fact occurred, and accordingly recommends the Governing Body to decide that the case does not call for further examination.