Interim Report - Report No 103, 1968

Case No 477 (Ecuador) - Complaint date: 17-MAR-66 - Closed

144. The Committee has deemed it appropriate to examine together the three cases relating to Ecuador which it has before it.

1. 144. The Committee has deemed it appropriate to examine together the three cases relating to Ecuador which it has before it.
2. 145. Case No. 422 has been examined by the Committee at a number of previous meetings, the last occasion being in May 1966, when it submitted to the Governing Body a further interim report which is to be found in paragraphs 263 to 272 of the Committee's 90th Report, approved by the Governing Body at its 165th Session (May 1966). The only aspect of this case which remains outstanding concerns the fate of three trade unionists on whose alleged detention the Government had failed until recently to forward its observations.
3. 146. Case No. 473 concerns a complaint presented to the I.L.O by the Ecuadorian Federation of Christian Trade Unions (C.E.D.O.C.) on 7 March 1966 in which allegations were made concerning the imposition upon workers' organisations of certain obligations which the complainants considered to constitute an infringement of freedom of association. In a letter dated 21 March 1966 the International Federation- of Christian Trade Unions declared its support for the aforementioned complaint. The C.E.D.O.C supplied further information in a letter dated 25 March 1966. The texts of all three of these communications were duly transmitted to the Government.
4. 147. Case No. 477 concerns a complaint presented to the I.L.O by the Latin American Peasant Federation (F.C.L.) by a letter dated 17 March 1966, followed by a further letter from the same organisation dated 11 April 1966. The complaint alleged that legal personality had been refused to a workers' organisation, that trade unionists had been imprisoned and that trade unions had been wrongfully compelled to comply with certain obligations. The texts of both these communications were duly transmitted to the Government.
5. 148. By a communication dated 8 November 1967 the Government has forwarded certain observations and information concerning the allegations mentioned in paragraphs 145 and 147 above.
6. 149. Ecuador has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but it has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

• Allegations relating to the Imprisonment of Trade Unionists
  150. 150 During the earlier stages of its examination of the complaint presented by the Latin American Federation of Christian Trade Unions in its communications of 24 November and 23 December 1964, the Committee had before it observations and information submitted by the Government with respect to the imprisonment of all but three of the trade unionists listed by the complainants. After recommending the Governing Body to note that the others had been released, the Committee went on to recommend the Governing Body, in paragraph 272 (c) of its 90th Report, to request the Government once again to forward information concerning the situation before the law of the three trade unionists in question.
  151. 151 The F.C.L, for its part, in its communication of 11 April 1966, asserted that " the now deposed military junta " had ordered the imprisonment of trade union leaders and ordinary workers in different parts of the country, citing specifically the cases of Messrs. Francisco Checa and Carlos Aroca.
  152. 152 In its communication of 8 November 1967 the Government states that there is no infringement of freedom of association in Ecuador today. It adds that, on the contrary, rights are being respected to the full and " problems are being resolved in a democratic atmosphere ". This is proved, it goes on, by the fact that there is no imprisonment of trade union officials nor of ordinary workers, and the persons mentioned by the F.C.L and the C.E.D.O.C. [sic] enjoy complete freedom.
  153. 153 The Committee would like to begin by pointing out that Messrs. Checa and Aroca were among the trade unionists who were stated earlier by the Government to have been released, as indicated in paragraph 272 (a) of the Committee's 90th Report. The F.C.L does not reveal the identity of the other trade unionists whom it alleges to have been imprisoned by the military junta while in power, nor does it give any other precise details.
  154. 154 Furthermore, the Committee takes note of the Government's statement according to which nobody is in prison today in Ecuador on account of his trade union activities. In these circumstances, bearing in mind that the allegations refer in part to events which occurred some time ago and in part to matters which have been dealt with in an earlier report, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to take note of the Government's statement and to decide that no useful purpose would be served by continuing the examination of these particular allegations.
• Allegation relating to the Refusal to Grant Legal Personality to a Workers' Organisation
  155. 155 In the F.C.L's complaint of 11 April 1966 it was alleged that the Ecuadorian Federation of Agricultural and Stockbreeding Workers (F.E.T.A.P.), an affiliate of the F.C.L, had not been granted legal personality despite the fact that more than a year had elapsed since it was founded at a congress in March 1965.
  156. 156 The Government states in its communication of 8 November 1967 that the F.E.T.A.P has now been granted legal personality under Ministerial Order No. 6128 of 28 April 1966.
  157. 157 In these circumstances, since the allegation refers to a specific situation which was remedied shortly after the complaint was presented, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
• Allegations relating to Obligations Imposed on Workers' Organisations
  158. 158 In its communications of 7 and 25 March 1967 the Ecuadorian Federation of Christian Trade Unions (C.E.D.O.C.) alleged that by order of the Director-General of Labour, published in the newspapers, all workers' organisations had been compelled to submit to the authorities, within a peremptory time limit, a list of their members, with their identity card numbers, a list of the managing committees in office, with dates of election and of termination of office, and a certified copy of the minutes of the last general assembly and ordinary session held. The complainants declared that even though the Government had claimed that it had issued this order for purely statistical purposes, in reality it constituted undue interference by the authorities in the affairs of trade unions, in violation of freedom of association.
  159. 159 The complainants attached the text of the announcement published by the Director-General of Labour in a daily paper on 28 December 1965. The announcement sets a time limit of 30 days for the submission of the documents in question, under threat of " the penalties applicable ".
  160. 160 The C.E.D.O.C 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, appear merely to involve points of form or wording, but one of them provides for the insertion of a clause whereby the union is required to forward annually to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Labour a series of documents, namely a copy of the minutes of the last general assembly, indicating precisely the names of the members 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 managing committee will result in the trade union being deemed to have gone into liquidation.
  161. 161 The Government has not so far forwarded any observations on the allegations set forth in paragraphs 158 to 160 above.
  162. 162 The Governing Body has always stressed the importance of the generally accepted principle that workers' organisations shall have the right to draw up their Constitutions and rules and to organise their administration and activities, and that the public authorities shall refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof.
  163. 163 In particular, it would appear from the evidence supplied by the complainants that the amendment of the rules of a trade union 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 of major importance which might jeopardise the very existence of the union, is inconsistent with the principle stated in the preceding paragraph.
  164. 164 Therefore, before submitting its final conclusions to the Governing Body, the Committee requests the Government to be good enough to forward, as soon as possible, its observations with respect to the allegations mentioned in paragraphs 158 to 160 above.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 165. In these circumstances, and with regard to these cases as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to take note of the Government's statement according to which nobody is in prison today in Ecuador on account of his trade union activities;
   • (b) to decide, for the reasons stated in paragraphs 154 and 157 above respectively, that no useful purpose would be served by continuing the examination of the allegations relating to the imprisonment of trade unionists, and that the allegation relating to the refusal to grant legal personality to a workers' organisation, mentioned by the complainants, does not call for further examination;
   • (c) to take note of this interim report, on the understanding that the Committee will report further when it has received the observations requested from the Government by the Committee in paragraph 164 above.