Interim Report - Report No 121, 1971

Case No 635 (Costa Rica) - Complaint date: 04-JUL-70 - Closed

1. 74. The complaints by the Confederation of Workers and Peasants of Costa Rica (COCC) and the Latin American Federation of Christian Trade Unions (CLASC) were submitted in two communications dated 4 July and 11 August 1970. These were forwarded to the Government of Costa Rica, which submitted its observations in a letter dated 1 October 1970.
2. 75. Costa Rica 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. 76. The complainants allege that the Municipal Council of Goicoechea has dismissed thirty-two workers as an act of reprisal and anti-trade-union victimisation. According to the complainants, the dismissals took place because the National Union of Municipal Workers had submitted a list of claims for better economic and social conditions which the Municipal Council refused to discuss.
2. 77. The Government confirms that the Goicoechea Municipal Council did indeed dismiss some of its workers, but adds that this was due to the need to reorganise its administration in the interests of greater efficiency. Dismissals had taken place in other local authorities for similar reasons. The Government adds that some of the dismissals in Goicoechea were due to serious misdemeanours by several of the workers. As regards the submission of a claim, the Government states that under national legislation and case law, a municipality is not required to conclude a collective agreement.
3. 78. In its communication the Government declares that the labour authorities investigated the case and found no evidence of any victimisation. The conclusions of these authorities were, in turn, referred to the Tripartite Fact-Finding Committee on Freedom of Association. While the investigation was being held, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare issued a circular to all local authorities urging them to lose no time in paying any compensation to which redundant workers might be entitled. The Goicoechea Municipal Council reported that it had paid compensation to thirteen of the workers it had dismissed.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 79. The Committee considers that the complaints fall, in fact, into two parts-first, the dismissal of the municipal employees and, second, the refusal of the Municipal Council to discuss a claim aimed at the conclusion of a collective agreement.
2. 80. As regards the former, the Government denies that the dismissals involved any victimisation but acknowledges that some of them were due to serious misdemeanours by the workers concerned; it gives no details of the nature of these misdemeanours. As regards the latter, it refers to section 56 of the Labour Code, whereby any " private " employer with a given proportion of unionised workers is compelled to conclude a collective agreement with the appropriate trade union at the latter's request. However, if the employer is a public body, this obligation does not apply.
3. 81. The Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), which sets standards designed to protect workers against any acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment and provides for measures to encourage and promote collective bargaining, allows an exception in the case of public servants engaged in the administration of the State. On the other hand, the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has stated that while the concept of public servant may vary to some degree under the various national legal systems, the exclusion from the scope of the Convention of public servants who do not act as agents of the public authority is contrary to the meaning of the Convention.
4. 82. In the present case, there is nothing in the evidence before the Committee to show which categories of municipal employees are involved so that it can decide whether or not they are covered by the guarantees contained in the Convention. Nor is it clear from the available information what actions some of the workers are alleged to have committed which led to their dismissal.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 83. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to request the Government to be good enough to define the nature of the duties of the workers covered by the claim submitted by the National Union of Municipal Workers and the misdemeanours considered to be serious which led to the dismissal of certain of these workers;
   • (b) to take note of the present interim report, it being understood that the Committee will submit a further report once it has received the additional information requested from the Government.
     • Geneva, 12 November 1970. (Signed) Roberto AGO, Chairman.