Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 110, 1969

Case No 552 (Argentina) - Complaint date: 18-APR-68 - Closed

1. 109. This case was previously examined by the Committee at its session in November 1968, when it formulated its definitive conclusions thereon. These are contained in paragraphs 79 to 87 of the Committee's 109th Report and will be submitted for the approval of the Governing Body at its 174th Session.
2. 110. Since the November session of the Committee, however, the Government, in a communication dated 15 January 1969, has presented a new series of observations which call for examination.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 111. The case consisted essentially of allegations that the Argentine Federation of Chemical and Allied Workers had been deprived of its trade union status and had been placed under the control of the Government. In its observations the Government stated that the reason for taking over this organisation was that it had participated in the " Action Plan " of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), the purpose of which was to challenge certain political decisions of the Government, and that in doing so it had departed from the trade union aims for which it had been set up.
2. 112. At its session in November 1968 the Committee noted that the taking over of trade union organisations implied the serious danger of a restriction of the right of workers' organisations to elect their representatives in full freedom and to organise their administration and activities, and it recommended the Governing Body, firstly, to draw the attention of the Government to the importance of Article 3 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), ratified by Argentina, which provides that workers' organisations shall have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom, to organise their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes, and that the public authorities shall refrain from any interference that would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof, and, secondly, to stress the importance of the principle set forth in Article 4 of Convention No. 87, to the effect that workers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by administrative authority.
3. 113. In its communication of 15 January 1969 the Government again states that the taking over of the Argentine Federation of Chemical and Allied Workers was due to the fact that this Organisation had departed from its trade union purpose to engage in activities of a political nature. The Government further states that the aim pursued in taking over an organisation is to restore to normal the situation of the organisation in question, and to regularise its operation in order that trade union elections may be held as soon as possible.
4. 114. The Government also states that such action does not have the effect of infringing the right of organisations to elect their representatives, to organise their administration or to formulate their programmes, to the extent that these organisations act in accordance with the specifically trade union objectives which justify their existence.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 115. Having noted these new observations by the Government, the Committee considers that they contain nothing to justify it in altering the conclusions it reached following its previous examination of the case, as contained in its 109th Report.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 116. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to confirm the conclusions contained in paragraph 87 (b) of the Committee's 109th Report;
   • (b) to request the Government to be good enough to keep the Governing Body informed of any measures taken with a view to the return to a normal situation of the organisation mentioned in the complaint, stating in particular whether it has been possible for free elections to be held.