Interim Report - Report No 211, November 1981

Case No 1044 (Dominican Republic) - Complaint date: 22-MAY-81 - Closed

1. 591. The complaint is contained in a communication dated 22 May 1981 from the Permanent Congress of Trade Union Unity of Latin American Workers (CPUSTAL). The Government sent its observations in communications dated 3 and 6 August 1981.
2. 592. 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. The complainant's allegations

1. 593. CPUSTAL alleges that in the last months of 1980 and the first quarter of 1981 industrial action, work stoppages and strikes by workers demanding wage increases and protesting against the high cost of living occurred in the State and free trade area undertakings, the multinational undertaking Falconbridge, the Metaldom undertaking, Ingenios Porvenir, Santa Fe, Quisqueña and Esperanza, AGROMAN, CODAL and in the Tabaqueros de TAMBORIL undertaking.
2. 594. The complainant adds that the strike by the municipal workers, the doctors' strike and the strike by workers of the National District City Council were harshly suppressed and that the last-mentioned strike resulted in four deaths, with dozens of injured persons and hundreds of arrests.
3. 595. The complainant adds that hundreds of workers have been dismissed for having exercised their legitimate right to strike.
4. 596. Finally, CPUSTAL alleges that although a request had been made more than six weeks in advance, Concepción de Oliveira was refused an entry visa into the country to represent CPUSTAL at the Congress of the Sole Confederation of Workers (CUT), affiliated to CPUSTAL, which was held on 25 and 26 April 1980 and that a list is maintained at the Santo Domingo airport including 16 trade union leaders of several American countries who are to be refused entry into the Dominican Republic, including Rodolfo Prieto, a member of the Executive Secretariat of CPUSTAL, who has never been in this country.

B. The Government's reply

1. 597. The Government states that the industrial action to which CPUSTAL refers was undertaken in disregard of the requisite procedure established by the legislation and that the authorities took no repressive action against the workers involved in these incidents. The Government adds that in many cases the resolute and unequivocal intervention of the labour authorities was beneficial to the workers and resulted in the signature of collective agreements in some of the undertakings mentioned by CPUSTAL, in particular in the state sugar production sector, and thereby prevented the undertakings from proceeding to dismiss hundreds of workers on the basis of their illegal acts.
2. 598. With regard to the strike in the National District Municipal Council, the Government states that the workers were involved in violent street clashes and that they obtained the allocation of a state subsidy, which was the principal motive of the strike. As regards the deaths which allegedly took place, the Government denies that four persons lost their lives and states that what in fact happened was that Sergeant Hilario Márquez Miliano of the National Police, who was a member of the patrol sent to maintain public order and protect private property, disobeyed the instructions of his superiors and fired on the workers, causing injuries which resulted in the death of Marcelino Vega Peguero, a Journalist, and Manuel de Jesús Ciprián Valdez, a paper boy. The Government adds that Hilario Márquez Miliano - the policeman - was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 20 years of hard labour by the judicial authorities on 28 May 1981.
3. 599. Finally, the Government states that an application for a visa was received from an alien who is prohibited from entering the country and that insufficient information is at its disposal to determine if Roberto Prieto fulfils the necessary conditions under legislation currently in force to be able to enter the country.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 600. The Committee notes the statement by the Government that the strike by the workers of the National District Municipal Council led to the death of the journalist and a newspaper boy and that the person responsible for these deaths - a policeman - was found guilty of murder by the judicial authorities and sentenced to 20 years' hard labour.
2. 601. The Committee also notes that according to the Government, the authorities have not taken any repressive action against the workers and that in most of the conflicts to which the complainant refers, benefits have accrued to the workers as a result of the intervention of the labour authorities which led to the signature of collective agreements in several undertakings and prevented the undertakings from proceeding to dismiss hundreds of workers on the basis of their illegal acts.
3. 602. As regards the list of 16 foreign trade union leaders who are allegedly prohibited from entering the country and the refusal to grant an entry visa to a trade union leader of CPUSTAL who was to represent this organisation at a trade union congress in the Dominican Republic, the Committee, although recognising that the refusal to grant a visa or, in general, to deny entry to aliens wishing to enter its territory is the sovereign right of a State, must recall the principle that the right of trade unions to affiliate with international workers' organisations necessarily involves the right of national trade union organisations freely to maintain normal contact with the international organisations of workers to which they are affiliated, the corollary of which is that the formalities to which trade union leaders and trade unionists are subject in seeking entry into the territory of a State should be based on objective criteria and in any case be free of any anti-trade union discrimination.
4. 603. Finally, the Committee notes that the Government has not yet replied to all the questions raised by the allegation concerning the suppression of the strike by workers in the National District Municipal Council - during which, it was alleged, dozens were injured and hundreds taken prisoner -, nor to the allegation concerning the dismissal of hundreds of workers for having exercised the right to strike. The Committee requests the Government to transmit its observations on the matter.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 604. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve this interim report and, in particular, the following conclusions:
   • The Committee notes that the policeman responsible for the death of two persons during the strike by workers of the National District Municipal Council has been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
   • Although the Committee recognises that the refusal to grant a visa or in general to deny entry to aliens wishing to enter its territory are matters concerning the sovereign right of a State, it must recall the principle whereby the right of trade unions to affiliate with international workers' organisations necessarily involves the right of national trade union organisations freely to maintain normal contacts with the international organisations of workers to which they are affiliated.
   • The Committee requests the Government to send detailed observations on the allegations concerning the dismissal of hundreds of workers for having exercised the right to strike and the suppression of the strike by workers in the National District Municipal Council, during which, according to the complainant, dozens were injured and hundreds of persons were arrested.