Definitive Report - Report No 207, March 1981

Case No 980 (Costa Rica) - Complaint date: 01-JUL-80 - Closed

1. 131. The complaint is contained in a communication from the General Confederation of Workers (CGT) dated 1 July 1980. The Government replied by a communication of 7 October 1980.
2. 132. 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. Allegations of the complainant

1. 133. In its communication of 1 July 1980, CGT alleges that the workers of the Zublin-Carrez undertaking engaged in the construction of a wharf at Puerto Limón were again obliged to resort to strike action on 23 June 1980 because the company had failed to honour the commitments it had entered into in a settlement that had put an end to an earlier strike. Once again, continues the complainant, instead of negotiating seriously with the union, the undertaking is manoeuvring to defeat the workers' struggle, and is even obliging the Government to send in the forces of order to "protect the interests of the workers".
2. 134. CGT alleges that on 1 July 1980 a member of the forces' of order cold-bloodedly shot Alvaro Picado, a worker who was on a loading machine, when a group of unarmed workers were attempting to persuade strike-breakers not to enter the workplace, although there had been no clashes either with the forces of order or with the strike-breakers.

B. Reply of the Government

1. 135. In its communication of 7 October 1980 the Government states that the strike which began on 23 June 1980 was declared illegal by the courts. The employer was accordingly entitled to terminate the contracts of employment of the strikers (section 370 of the Labour Code), and the courts had the power to order the police authorities to guarantee the continuation of work (section 381 of the Labour Code). Given the consequences of the illegal strike, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, with a view to ensuring social peace, decided to act as a mediator; the result of this action was a settlement between the parties on the basis of proposals by the Government concerning reinstatement of the workers, termination of individual contracts and statutory benefits, trade union activity and the establishment of a Labour Relations Board. These proposals were accepted by the parties on 25 July 1980.
2. 136. The Government remarks that the intervention of the police at the workplace was not due to pressure by the employer, but, given the illegal nature of the strike, was the result of a court order to apply section 381 of the Labour Code for the purpose of ensuring that workers who wished to continue work could enter the workplace.
3. 137. As regards the death of the worker Alvaro Picado, the Government states that a detachment of police was at the entrance to the worksite of the harbour installation in order to guarantee that workers who wished to continue work might enter the workplace and to protect the installations which were intended as a public service in accordance with section 369 of the Labour Code, when a group of workers attacked the authorities, throwing stones and other blunt objects. At a certain moment, Alvaro Picado, who was driving a vehicle equipped with a mechanical shovel, pushed with the shovel a loading vehicle against a but containing a number of policemen. The Government adds that the police fired into the air and warned the strikers to stop the violence. It was then discovered that Alvaro Picado, who was to die later, was lying on the ground with a bullet wound. Faced with this situation, most of the aggressors fled.
4. 138. The Government does not accept the complainant's accusation of responsibility for the incidents, as the action taken by the Civil Guard was in any case undoubtedly defensive. Furthermore, continues the Government, caches of arms of a type not used by the police were found on the premises, and various witnesses heard exchanges of shots of different calibres.
5. 139. In addition the Government remarks that during the preliminary investigation for homicide the civil guard who was originally held responsible for the death of Alvaro Picado was acquitted for lack of evidence because of the absence of any witness who could testify that the police had opened fire on the victim and because it was not even possible to determine that it was the shots fired by the forces of order that had caused his death.

C. Conclusions of the Committee

1. 140. Although the Government has not explained the precise reasons, the Committee notes that the strike which began on 23 June 1980 in the Zublin-Carrez undertaking was declared illegal and also notes that it was brought to an end when the parties accepted the settlement proposed by the Government. The Committee wishes to point out, as it has done in earlier cases, that the conditions required by law for a strike to be considered lawful must be reasonable, and in any case should not imply a serious limitation on the potential activities of trade unions, such as the requirement that a high proportion of the workers should be in agreement with the strike before it can be considered lawful.
2. 141. As regards the presence of the police at the workplace due to the labour dispute, the Committee notes the statement of the Government that the purpose of this was to ensure that workers who so wished could continue their work and to protect public service installations in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Code respecting illegal strikes. As regards the death of the worker, Alvaro Picado, the Committee observes that the allegations of the complainant and the statement of the Government are contradictory; the complainant states that a member of the forces of order fired on unarmed workers, although there had been no clashes either with the forces of order or with the strike-breakers, whereas the Government states that the workers had committed acts of aggression and that it was not possible to determine whether the shot which caused the victim's death came from the police. As it has already done on similar occasions, the Committee wishes to recall that it has always attached great importance to the institution of an impartial inquiry and the guarantee of due process of law in order to determine responsibilities and apply the corresponding sanctions in cases where disturbances have occurred involving the loss of human lives, In this sense the Committee observes that a preliminary investigation was carried out and that one of the civil guards was acquitted for lack of evidence.
3. 142. Lastly, given the violence of the incidents which occurred during the strike and which reached their climax with the death of the worker, Alvaro Picado, the Committee, while deploring these incidents, wishes to stress the desirability of giving the police appropriate instructions whenever they have to intervene in collective labour disputes, in order to avoid serious consequences of this kind.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 143. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body to deplore the death of the worker Alvaro Picado and the violence of the incidents which took place during the strike, and to draw the attention of the Government to the fact that conditions required by law for a strike to be considered lawful should not constitute a serious limitation on the potential activities of trade union organisations.