Definitive Report - Report No 135, March 1973

Case No 646 (Costa Rica) - Complaint date: 11-NOV-70 - Closed

1. 131. The complaint of the Costa Rican Christian Workers' and Peasants' Confederation was contained in a communication dated 11 November 1970, which was forwarded to the Government on 3 December 1970 for observations.
2. 132. Despite the repeated requests made by the Committee, the Government has not furnished its observations. Consequently the Committee, at its May 1972 Session, sent an urgent appeal to the Government to supply the observations requested (132nd Report, paragraph 6). No response having been made to this appeal, the Committee, at its November 1972 Session, in accordance with the rules of procedure established in paragraph 17 of its 127th Report, stated that it intended to submit at its present session a report on the substance of the matter even if the information awaited from the Government had not been received by that date (134th Report, paragraph 8). The observations in question have not been received to this day.
3. 133. 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. 134. In its complaint, the Costa Rican Christian Workers' and Peasants' Confederation denounces as "trade union persecution" the dismissal of Isaac Amador Pérez, General Secretary of the union of the firm Ensambladora Centroamericana S.A. (ECASA), and of Manuel Chaves Sojo and Juan Luis Cordero Fernández, other trade union leaders. These persons are alleged to have been dismissed by the undertaking for having collected signatures in order to raise the question of a collective agreement.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 135. Since the Government has not submitted its observations on these allegations, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to recall the observation made by the Committee in paragraph 31 of its First Report, according to which 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 for their part 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;
   • (b) to note that the allegations made refer to measures of antiunion discrimination against three trade union leaders, namely Mr. Isaac Amador Pérez, Mr. Manuel Chaves Sojo and Mr. Juan Luis Cordero Fernández;
   • (c) to note that in the present case the Government has furnished no information to prove that the allegations are groundless;
   • (d) to draw the attention of the Government to the fact that one of the fundamental principles of freedom of association is that workers should enjoy adequate protection against all acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment and that this protection is particularly desirable in the case of trade union officials because, in order to be able to perform their trade union duties in full independence, they must have the guarantee that they will suffer no prejudice on account of the mandate which they hold from their trade unions; and that this guarantee is also necessary in order to ensure that effect is given to the principle that workers' organisations should have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom;
   • (e) in particular, to draw the attention of the Government to the Convention and Recommendation concerning workers' representatives, adopted by the International Labour Conference in 1971, in which it is expressly established that workers' representatives in the undertaking should enjoy effective protection against any act prejudicial to them, including dismissal, based on their status or activities as workers' representatives or on union membership or participation in union activities, in so far as they act in conformity with existing laws or collective agreements or other jointly agreed arrangements;
   • (f) to deplore the fact that despite the repeated requests made to it, the Government has not supplied the information requested by the Committee in respect of the allegations that have been made, thus making it impossible for the Committee to submit its conclusions on the case in full knowledge of the facts.