Definitive Report - Report No 202, June 1980

Case No 950 (Dominican Republic) - Complaint date: 24-JAN-80 - Closed

1. 282. The complaint of the General Central of Workers (CGT) of the Dominican, Republic is contained in telegrams dated 24, 28 and 30 January 1980. The Government furnished a reply by a communication dated 21 March 1980.
2. 283. The Dominican Republic has ratified both 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. 284. It its communication the CGT alleges that the Government refuses to pay the sugar workers the bonuses due to them or accede to their demands, that it has dismissed over 1,300 workers and that it runs workplaces along military lines. The CGT also alleges that its General Secretary, Francisco Antonio Santos, has been arrested.
2. 285. The Government observes that bonuses are awarded to the employees of an undertaking when that undertaking shows a profit at the end of its financial year, and that this has not been the case with the State Sugar Board, under whose authority the state sugar workers operate, since it has suffered losses of more than 70 million Dominican pesos, thus it is released from its obligation to pay bonuses. The Government adds that nevertheless the State Sugar Board, under an agreement signed by the majority of the union leaders in the sugar industry, who had formed a Co-ordinating Committee for the Sugar Trade Unions, agreed to pay the workers 15 days' wages as an advance on future bonuses. According to the Government this agreement was violated by the employees of three of the state sugar works when they called a strike which was ruled to be illegal by the Court of Appeal of San Pedro de Maccris. As a result, the managements of the sugar works in question, exercising the powers vested in them by the Labour Code to meet such circumstances, terminated the contracts of hundreds of sugar workers. Subsequently, by order of the President of the Republic, all these workers were reinstated in their posts with the exception of a minority whose reinstatement has been left in abeyance while their cases are examined by the officials of the State Sugar Board. As concerns the arrest of Francisco Antonio Santos, the Government states that he was taken into preventive custody for the purpose of interrogation, but was released immediately by order of the President of the Republic himself, at the request of the labour authorities.
3. 286. The Committee notes the Government's observations concerning the sugar workers' dispute and the fact that the majority of the dismissed workers have been reinstated in their posts. The Committee recalls that in previous cases where it has examined allegations of dismissals arising out of strikes it has considered that such measures involve serious risks of abuse and serious threats to freedom of association. It has also expressed the view on such occasions that the development of labour relations could be impaired as the result of an inflexible attitude being adopted in the application of excessively severe sanctions to workers who participate in strike action. In view of these considerations the Committee is of the opinion that it would be particularly desirable for the Government to take steps to facilitate the reinstatement of the workers who have not been re-established in their jobs, and would like to be kept informed of the action taken to deal with their cases.
4. 287. The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government to the effect that the arrest of the trade unionist Francisco Antonio Santos was a preventive measure for the purpose of interrogation and that he was released immediately by order of the President of the Republic himself.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 288. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
2. (1) to note that the trade unionist Francisco Antonio Santos has been released;
3. (2) to draw the Government's attention to the considerations set out in paragraph 286 above and recommend that it take steps to facilitate the reinstatement of the workers who have not been re-established in their jobs; and
4. (3) to request the Government to keep it informed as to the action taken to deal with the cases of the workers not yet reinstated.