Interim Report - Report No 116, 1970

Case No 602 (Guyana) - Complaint date: 11-SEP-69 - Closed

1. 380. The complaint of the Latin American Federation of Christian Trade Unions (CLASC) is contained in a communication dated 11 September, and the complaint of the World Confederation of Labour in two communications dated 13 September and 2 October 1969 respectively. These complaints were passed on to the Government of Guyana, which furnished its observations on 31 December 1969.
2. 381. Guyana 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. 382. The CLASC states in its communication that it is lodging a complaint on behalf of its affiliated organisation in Guyana, the Guyana National Confederation of Workers and Peasants. According to the complainants this organisation has been subjected to systematic persecution and repression by the régime of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham. The local police are said to have forced their way into the organisation's offices on five occasions, over a period of less than four months, the last time being on 8 September 1969. On these occasions the police are said to have unlawfully seized documents for internal use within the organisation, together with books, leaflets, tape recorders and tapes, files and other documents and working material.
2. 383. The complainants go on to say that on 3 September 1969 the arrest took place of the CLASC leader, Mr. Adolfo Bonilla, of Nicaraguan nationality, who was co-operating in organising a trade union study seminar which their organisation was holding in Georgetown. On the following day he was obliged to leave the country although his passport had a visa valid for six months. On 8 September the police arrested Mr. Andrew Blackwell, a Canadian who was also collaborating in the seminar. On 10 September Mr. Patrick Tennassee, of Guyana, the General Secretary of the Guyana National Confederation of Workers and Peasants, was imprisoned.
3. 384. The complainants add that the mail of their organisation has for some time been intercepted. On the last occasion when the trade union premises were broken into by the police it is said that women union members and their relatives were ill-treated. " It is known that the very lives of the trade unionists are in danger and that Mr. Patrick Tennassee's imprisonment will be followed by many more without the slightest justification or explanation."
4. 385. In its first communication, of 13 September 1969, the WCL protests against the police intervention, the stopping of the trade union seminar, the arrest of leaders and the ill-treatment of women, requesting the ILO to intervene in order to secure the release of the arrested leaders and respect of trade union rights. This complaint is substantiated by the WCL, in its communication of 2 October 1969, which repeats the statements contained in the CLASC's complaint and furnishes more detailed information on the alleged incidents.
5. 386. In this respect, the WCL states that the Prime Minister has openly threatened the General Secretary of the Guyana National Confederation of Workers and Peasants with expulsion from his own country, ordering him to withdraw his organisation from the CLASC. The General Secretary of the CLASC, Mr. Emilio Máspero, was to have attended the seminar organised by the Confederation but was refused an entry visa into Guyana. As regards Mr. Bonilla, three days after his arrival, whilst he was giving a talk at the above-mentioned seminar, he was asked by the police to go to the police station, where he was arrested, and subsequently obliged to leave the country without being given any explanation.
6. 387. In its communication of 31 December 1969 the Government confines itself to stating that it has thoroughly investigated the allegations of infringement of trade union rights made by the complainants and that the results of these investigations prove conclusively that the complaints are totally groundless.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 388. The Committee earlier had occasion to specify in its First Report that it could not regard as satisfactory replies from governments which were confined to generalities when precise allegations had been made. The Committee pointed out that " the purpose of the whole procedure is to promote respect for trade union rights in law and in fact and the Committee is confident that, if it protects governments against unreasonable accusations, governments on their side will recognise the importance, for the protection of their own good name, of formulating for objective examination detailed factual replies to such detailed factual charges as may be put forward ". Acting in accordance with this principle, in all cases in which information supplied by a government was of too general a nature, the Committee has requested more specific information before formulating its final conclusions for the Governing Body.
2. 389. In the present case, the Committee has to examine specific allegations on a series of measures adopted by the authorities which have a direct bearing on the exercise of trade union rights. For its part, the Government has merely sent a communication of a very general nature on these allegations, which contains no concrete elements that the Committee could use as a basis for examining the complaints in full knowledge of the facts.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 390. In the circumstances, deploring the fact that the Government of Guyana has not made more detailed information available to it, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to supply its detailed observations on the various allegations made and on the present position of Mr. Patrick Tennassee.