Definitive Report - Report No 207, March 1981

Case No 1013 (Burkina Faso) - Complaint date: 21-NOV-80 - Closed

1. 80. By a communication dated 21 November 1980, the International Federation of Teachers' Unions presented a complaint for violation of trade union rights in Upper Volta. The Government for its part sent its observations in a communication of 31 December 1980.
2. 81. Upper Volta 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. 82. The complaint of the International Federation of Teachers' Unions (FISE) refers to arrests of workers which were made during a labour dispute and the blocking of the payment of wages.
2. 83. FISE transmits the information which it has received from the National Teachers' Union of Upper Volta (SNEAHV), a national organisation affiliated to the Federation and which spearheaded the protest movement. It is alleged that the Government's refusal to negotiate seriously the claims of the school teachers of Upper Volta resulted in a strike which lasted more than 50 days. A peaceful mass demonstration took place on 13, 14 and 15 November 1980 which, it is alleged, led to the arrest of 57 workers. Moreover, in an attempt to break the strike, the Government allegedly blocked the payment of the wages of teaching staff due for October and November 1980.
3. 84. The Government supplies its reply to these allegations in a letter dated 31 December, in which it outlines the current political situation in Upper Volta. It recalls that a Military Committee for the restoration of national progress seized power in the country on 25 November 1980 and suspended the Constitution of the Third Republic. This same Committee set up a new Government on 7 December, which cannot for this reason be held answerable for acts committed by a government which has been overthrown.
4. 85. However, in order to allow the Committee on Freedom of Association to form an opinion, the new Government explains that the National Teachers' Union was obliged to declare a strike of unlimited duration after it had exhausted all the legal means available to obtain the satisfaction of the teachers' demands. Despite sympathy strikes of the Unitary Trade Union of Secondary School and Higher Education Teachers of Upper Volta and other trade unions, and in spite of several attempts at conciliation, the Government of the Third Republic adopted an intransigent attitude and blocked the payment of wages of teachers who were on strike. The new Government confirms that it was at this point that the protest march of 13, 14 and 15 November took place, despite the prohibition of the Government of the Third Republic, and during which arrests were made. However, the new Government points out that all the persons who were arrested were released shortly afterwards.
5. 86. The Government states that the first acts undertaken by the Military Committee for the restoration of the national progress were to order, as an extraordinary measure, the immediate payment of the wages of the teachers on strike for the months of October and November 1980 and to grant complete satisfaction to the claims presented by the SNEAHV with a view to restoring social harmony. The Government includes the decree which revokes the suspension of payment of wages in the appendix to its letter.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 87. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body, in the light of the release of the active trade unionists arrested during the teachers' strike and since the wages of the strikers have been paid, to decide that the case does not call for further examination.