Interim Report - Report No 124, 1971

Case No 664 (Colombia) - Complaint date: 07-APR-71 - Closed

1. 100. The complaint of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is contained in a communication dated 7 April 1971 addressed direct to the ILO. This complaint was transmitted to the Government, which sent its observations in a communication dated 5 May 1971.
2. 101. Colombia has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 102. The complainants give the following account of the matter. The leaders of the two large central organisations, the Union of Colombian Workers (UTC) and the Confederation of Colombian Workers (CSTC), having met on 9 February 1971, decided to organise a twenty-four hour strike throughout the country on 8 March as a protest against the high cost of living, unemployment and low wages. The strike was also intended to claim from the authorities and the employers an increase in salaries and wages, the freezing of prices for consumer goods and public services, improved social security benefits, the observance of trade union rights and the suppression of compulsory arbitration tribunals.
2. 103. According to the WFTU, on 23 February 1971 the UTC and the CSTC publicly confirmed the nature of the strike in a joint declaration which stated: " It will be peaceful and will have no other aim than to protest against the anti-labour and anti-trade-union policy and against the present state of affairs in general ".
3. 104. The WFTU alleges that, in spite of the peaceful nature of the demand of the movement, the Government declared that the strike was subversive and decreed that all trade union funds should be frozen. At the same time, according to the complainants, making use of the state of emergency proclaimed on 27 February, the Government began a violent campaign of repression against the workers and trade union leaders who were supporting the strike initiative; thus, throughout the country, hundreds of persons had been arrested before 8 March.
4. 105. The WFTU declares that, in spite of the measures of repression and intimidation, the strike of 8 March assumed large proportions, and over 900,000 workers stopped work on that day " thus bringing their support to the claims of the National Strike Committee platform ".
5. 106. In spite of this, says the WFTU, the Government maintained its repressive measures as well as the measures taken against the trade unions. Ten days after the strike about 100 workers and trade union leaders were still being detained, including: Jaime Parra, a worker at the Boyacá power station; Guillermo Niño, President of the Boyacá Soft Drinks Company Union; Raúl Baquero, President of the Paz de Rio Steelworks branch at Samacá; Isabel Parada de Guevara, a labour leader; Raúl Tapia and Rafael H. Lara, trade union leaders of the cement workers at Boyacá; Victor Acosta, President of UTRAL of Barranquilla; Leopoldo Montes and Benjamín Rizo, union leaders from Barranquilla, " as well as many other militant trade unionists from Bogotá, Bucaramanga and Barrancabermeja, Cucuta, Huila, Girardot, Arbeldez and Puerto Tajada ".
6. 107. The complainants allege that the Government also took other measures against trade union organisations that had supported the strike. The first trade unions against which such measures were taken, the WFTU states, were those from the following firms: La Rosa (Pereira), Cervecerias Aguila, Industrias Simán Hermanos (Barranquilla), Colombiana de Cerámica (Cundinamarca) and Industria Licorera de Boyacá (Tunja). " The decree signed by the Minister of Labour, Mr. Jorge Mario Eastman, " the complainants continue " suspends for six months the right of the trade unions to be legally recognised thus enabling the employers to dismiss any staff that they wish, including in particular, trade union leaders, after first discussing the matter with the ministry and the labour tribunals in the latter case.
7. 108. " Many other trade unions " according to the WFTU " are threatened with similar sanctions, particularly the central trade union organisation UTC, which is threatened with the withdrawal of its legal personality. As for the CSTC, the Minister of Labour has discriminated against this organisation by refusing to grant it legal personality even though it has complied with all the conditions required by law ".
8. 109. In its observations the Government first points out that only 42 trade unions out of the 5,302 in the country took part in the strike of 8 March. It also declares that it is because of the state of emergency that decrees were adopted in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Code, suspending the legal personality of the trade unions implicated in the strike and freezing their funds.
9. 110. Since then, states the Government, recent measures have been taken removing the sanctions which penalise certain trade unions and, it points out, at the present time no trade union is subject to sanctions.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 111. It would appear from the information supplied by the Government that the trade unions' funds that had been frozen have been released and that the trade unions whose legal personality had been suspended have had this restored.
2. 112. With regard to the suspension of legal personality, it appears to the Committee that this had been done by decrees adopted by virtue of the provisions of the Labour Code, which seem to be of a permanent nature and independent of the existence or non-existence of a state of emergency. The Committee wishes to draw attention to the fact that the measures suspending legal personality-which is essential to enable the trade unions to function-which the Government admits having taken, are contrary to the generally accepted principle that trade unions shall not be liable to be suspended by administrative authority.
3. 113. Considering, however, that the measures of suspension in question have been revoked, the Committee recommends the Governing Body, subject to what is stated in the previous paragraph, to decide that no purpose would be served in pursuing its examination of this aspect of the case.
4. 114. As for the allegations concerning the arrest of trade union leaders and militant trade unionists, analysed in paragraph 106 above, the Committee notes that the Government makes no reference to them in its reply.
5. 115. In the circumstances, the Committee recommends to the Governing Body to request the Government to be good enough to submit its observations concerning this aspect of the complaint, indicating, in particular, the present situation of the persons named by the WFTU.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 116. With regard to the case as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide, subject to the observations contained in paragraph 112 above, that the allegations relating to the suspension of legal personality of certain trade unions and the freezing of their funds do not call for further examination;
   • (b) to request the Government to be good enough to submit its observations concerning the allegations of the arrest of trade union leaders and militant trade unionists indicating, in particular, the present situation of the persons named by the WFTU and mentioned in paragraph 106 above;
   • (c) to take note of the present interim report, it being understood that the Committee will submit a further report when it has received the supplementary information referred to in the previous paragraph.
     • Geneva, 26 May 1971. (Signed) Roberto AGO, Chairman.