Definitive Report - Report No 150, November 1975

Case No 787 (Brazil) - Complaint date: 08-APR-74 - Closed

1. 44. The complaint of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is contained in a letter dated 8 April 1974, and the Government's reply in a communication dated 25 October 1974.
2. 45. Brazil has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but it has ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 46. After recalling other cases relating to Brazil which have come before the Committee, the WFTU states that the military police of Sao Paulo (Ninth Battalion) have sent out to undertakings in that state a "secret industrial questionnaire", a copy of which it appends. According to the complainants this questionnaire was despatched in pursuance of general instructions given by the Brazilian military authorities and is proof that trade union rights no longer exist in Brazil, and that the authorities are seeking by such means to exercise control over undertakings, their owners and their workers and to channel to their advantage the workers' claims and any demand for respect for freedom of association. The WFTU also calls for the release of trade unionists in prison, the cancellation of proceedings brought against them and the quashing of any sentences passed.
2. 47. This questionnaire contains a list of sixty points relating to various subjects. Some are concerned with the identification of the undertaking, its owners, its management, its parent company, if any, its production, etc.; others concern the existence of a security department, a fire-fighting section, a works canteen, accommodation, a sports ground and a civil defence plan yet other questions ask the number of employees, their average age, how they are paid. There is also a question as to whether any employees belong to the military police or the armed forces.
3. 48. The questionnaire also asks whether there are any natural leaders among the employees (requesting their names, addresses and jobs in the undertaking), people who incite to strike, trade union delegates or trade union organisations represented in the undertaking (one question asks what ends they pursue and what their relations are with the management; another queries the links between employees and unions).
4. 49. The Government protests at the way in which the WFTU has attempted to link its accusations with other cases that the ILO has examined previously on the basis of information officially challenged by the Government. It denies that the questionnaire was drawn up following general instructions given by the military authorities, stating that it was undertaken on the initiative of a battalion commander who wished to conduct a survey to help him in his preventive activities in that part of the city under his supervision (the Government points out, moreover, that the situation there is normal, as it is throughout the country). The Government goes on to state that this document has nothing to do with trade union matters but forms part of a general survey of undertakings, a confidential inquiry, of a kind carried out as a matter of course in any country, undertaken by the police for preventive purposes. The questionnaire relates solely to questions of industrial safety, civil defence, and other matters essential for the preparation of police protection plans. The Government considers that this affair is not a matter for the Committee as it has no connection with the activity of trade union organisations or with the rights of individuals, let alone the rights of trade unions.
5. 50. The Government adds that the WFTU offers no evidence in support of its allegations and is unable to quote a single event which has taken place as a result of this survey. The survey will not give rise to action of any kind against any person whatsoever except in cases of emergency or serious public disturbance; no action has been taken as a result of it and no person has suffered any infringement of his rights. The Government goes on to state that the trade unions in Brazil are operating in a peaceful and constructive social climate and are fully devoted to furthering the interests of the workers; they have not even taken cognisance of the facts reported by the WFTU, since these are irrelevant to their true objectives. The accusations made by the WFTU imply that the police should be debarred from conducting inquiries, from obtaining advance knowledge of the presence of persons likely to disturb public order and from obtaining the information which will -permit them to act promptly and effectively when required to do so.
6. 51. It emerges from the information available that the Ninth Battalion of the military police of Sao Paulo has drawn up and sent out to undertakings in the area a secret questionnaire referring to various aspects of the affairs of these undertakings, including the trade unions and leaders of the workers and likely instigators of strikes.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 52. The Committee notes the Government's explanations and its statement to the effect that this questionnaire has no bearing upon the present position of trade unionists. According to the Government it is a practice of a kind engaged in as a matter of course in any country.
2. 53. The Committee is of the opinion that the sending of such a questionnaire to undertakings by the military authorities is not in accordance with normal practice. In many countries records are kept by labour departments concerning trade unions and their leaders, but the situation is different when it is the military authorities which ask for information, especially on the natural leaders of the workers and likely instigators of strikes.
3. 54. The Committee considers that an inquiry into such matters may involve a risk of being put to improper use by the military authorities or the police in the event of a labour dispute (for example, workers might be taken into custody simply because they are on a list of persons thus established, even though they have committed no offence). The Committee points out, moreover, that this danger is implicit in the Government's statement to the effect that the questionnaire will not give rise to action of any kind against individuals "except in cases of emergency or serious public disturbance". The Committee further considers that this method is likely to create such an atmosphere of mistrust that it is hardly an appropriate means of furthering the development of harmonious industrial relations.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 55. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to draw the Government's attention to the considerations set forth in paragraphs 53 and 54 above and to request the Government to take appropriate measures to avoid risks of the kind mentioned.