Definitive Report - Report No 105, 1968

Case No 473 (Ecuador) - Complaint date: 07-MAR-66 - Closed

50. These cases were considered by the Committee at its session in February 1968, when it submitted to the Governing Body its interim conclusions in paragraphs 144 to 165 of its 103rd Report, approved by the Governing Body at its 171st Session (February-March 1968).

1. 50. These cases were considered by the Committee at its session in February 1968, when it submitted to the Governing Body its interim conclusions in paragraphs 144 to 165 of its 103rd Report, approved by the Governing Body at its 171st Session (February-March 1968).
2. 51. In a communication dated 20 March 1968 the Government sent certain additional observations, which had been requested by the Committee.
3. 52. Ecuador 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. 53. The allegations still to be examined refer to two separate questions: first, that workers' organisations have been obliged to provide the authorities with certain information, and secondly, that the rules of a workers' organisation have been amended by order of the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour.
2. 54. As regards the first question, the complainants alleged that by order of the Director-General of Labour (December 1965) all the workers' organisations had been compelled under threat of punishment to submit to the authorities, within a peremptory time-limit, a list of their members, a list of the members of the managing committees, and certified copies of the proceedings of the last general assembly and ordinary session held. In the complainants' opinion this demand constituted interference by the authorities in the affairs of trade union organisations, in violation of freedom of association.
3. 55. In its communication dated 20 March 1968 the Government claims that the action taken by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour does not constitute a violation of trade union rights, since the aim had been to draw up full statistics of the workers' and employers' organisations in the country.
4. 56. In view of the Government's reply, and of the fact that the complainants have submitted no further information in support of their claim that the demand for the information in question constituted interference by the authorities in the affairs of trade union organisations, the Committee considers that this particular aspect of the allegations does not call for further consideration.
5. 57. The complainants also supplied a copy of a letter from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour to a trade union transmitting to it a copy of the " amendments to the rules of this trade union ". Some of the amendments, which were apparently approved in 1965 by Ministerial Order No. 4282, appeared merely to involve points of form or wording; but one of them provided for the insertion of a clause in the rules whereby the union is required to forward annually to the Ministry a series of documents, namely a copy of the minutes of the last general assembly, with the names of those present, a copy of the General Secretary's report, as approved by the assembly, a copy of the Treasurer's report, etc. Failure to do so within the 60 days following the statutory date for the election of the new executive committee would result in the trade union's being deemed to have gone into liquidation.
6. 58. At its session in February 1968 the Committee observed that the Government had not furnished its observations on this aspect of the matter, but pointed out the importance that the Governing Body had always attached to the principle that workers' organisations should be free to draw up their Constitutions and rules and to organise their administration and their activities, and that the public authorities should refrain from any interference which might restrict that right or impede the lawful exercise thereof.
7. 59. On the basis of the evidence supplied by the complainants the Committee pointed out that amendment of a trade union's rules by ministerial order, in respect of matters which appear not to have been confined to points of pure form but to have also involved the insertion in these rules of provisions of substance which might jeopardise the very existence of the union, appeared incompatible with the aforementioned principle.
8. 60. Nevertheless, before submitting its final conclusions, the Committee requested the Government, in paragraph 164 of its 103rd Report, to be good enough to forward its observations on this aspect of the case.
9. 61. In its communication dated 20 March 1968, as in its original reply, the Government failed to furnish its observations on this point.
10. 62. According to the Labour Code of Ecuador, in order for a workers' organisation to be granted legal personality it must be governed in accordance with rules approved by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour (section 410), such approval being required for registration (section 419). Section 411 of the Code lists ten subjects which trade union rules must deal with if they are to be approved. There is only one subject in this list with regard to which the Code specifies the purport of the statement which is to be included in the rules-namely a statement to the effect that any collective action of a political or religious kind is forbidden. In respect of none of the remaining nine subjects-which appears to leave the organisations concerned adequate freedom in drafting their statutes-is there anything relating to the submission of reports to the authorities.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 63. In the absence of fuller information, and particularly of the Government's comments, the Committee finds it difficult to decide the extent to which, in practice, the Minister exercises the power conferred on him by the Code to approve trade union rules. The Committee has only the example referred to by the complainants and not denied by the Government, which would appear to show that the power may be exercised in a discretionary manner and not exclusively with regard to points of form but also with regard to points of substance.
2. 64. Accordingly, the Committee wishes to point out that the principle mentioned in paragraph 58 above is incorporated in Article 3 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), Ecuador's ratification of which was registered on 29 May 1967. With regard to this standard the Committee of Experts on the Application of the Conventions and Recommendations has pointed out that the right of organisations freely to draw up their own Constitutions and rules appears to be considerably restricted in countries, for instance, where the rules must be submitted for previous approval by the authorities, whose power of decision does not appear to be limited by any specific rules.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 65. In these circumstances, and with regard to the two cases as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide, for the reasons set forth in paragraph 56 above, that the allegations relating to the submission by trade union organisations in general of certain information, as demanded by the authorities, do not call for further examination;
   • (b) with regard to the amendments made by the authorities to the rules of a trade union, to draw the Government's attention, for the reasons set forth in paragraphs 62 to 64 above, to the importance of the standard contained in Article 3 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), ratified by Ecuador, according to which workers' and employers' organisations shall have the right to draw up their Constitutions and rules and the public authorities shall refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof.