Interim Report - Report No 272, June 1990

Case No 1273 (El Salvador) - Complaint date: 05-APR-84 - Closed

1. 262. The Committee has already examined this case on six occasions (see 236th, 243rd, 251st, 256th, 259th and 268th Reports approved by the Governing Body, respectively, in November 1984, February 1986, May 1987, May and November 1988 and November 1989) when it reached interim conclusions. It was also among the ten cases presented against the Government of El Salvador which were examined jointly by the direct contacts mission which visited the country in January 1986.
2. 263. Since the last examination of the case, the Government sent information in communications dated 23 January and 20 March 1990.
3. 264. El Salvador has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. Previous examination of the case

1. 265. When it last examined Case No. 1273 (see 268th Report of the Committee, paras. 277 to 309), the Committee made the following recommendations on the allegations still pending:
   • (a) The Committee must reiterate its regret that the Government has not sent all the information requested from it and once again requests its comments on the following allegations:
   • (i) the serious threats against two female members of the Coffee Union (Mrs. Castañeda and Mrs. Marta Alicia Sigüenza, in April 1988);
   • (ii) progress in the trial concerning the murder of José Aristides Méndez, which commenced in July 1986;
   • (iii) the disappearance of Mr. Alberto Luis Alfaro on 17 March 1988;
   • (iv) the death of Mr. Jesús Rodas Barahona on 13 April 1988;
   • (v) the arrest, in March and April 1988, of ASTTEL members Messrs. L. W. Berrios, Misael Flores and José Mazariego.
   • (b) As regards the various allegations of anti-union harassment against the Association of Salvadorian Telecommunications Workers, the Committee notes with concern the poor industrial relations climate reigning in the ANTEL telecommunications company and recalls again that a genuinely free and independent trade union movement can only develop in a climate free of violence and uncertainty.
   • (c) The Committee requests the Government to adopt the necessary measures to put a stop to all acts of anti-union harassment which might affect ASTTEL leaders and members and, in particular, to ensure that all employees who may have been dismissed for their trade union activities are reinstated in their jobs.
   • (d) The Committee urgently requests the Government to supply information on the death of the trade unionist Julio Chinchilla, in suspicious circumstances, following his arrest by military forces (May 1988).
   • (e) The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the dynamiting of the ASTTEL premises on 30 April 1988.

B. The Government's replies

1. 266. In its communication of 23 January 1990, the Government states that there is at present an understanding between the ANTEL telecommunications company and the members of the Association of Salvadorian Telecommunications Workers (ASTTEL) and that there could not be a better climate of freedom of association; in support of this information, it refers to a number of documents signed between the company and the workers' association since June 1989, which the Government encloses as an annex to its communication. These records of agreements, signed, amongst others, by the trade union officials Messrs. Flores and Berrios, contain the company's agreement to reinstate all the members of the Association's executive (including Messrs. Flores, Berrios and Mazariego) and to authorise the workers' association to pin up messages at the workplace. None the less, according to the document dated 21 November 1989, the Association of Salvadorian Telecommunications Workers had not attended the meeting (provided for in previous records).
2. 267. The Government states that the ASTTEL officials that had been dismissed did not want to be reinstated, in spite of the agreement that had been reached in this respect, because they had joined their cause with that of the National Union of Salvadorian Workers, which had carried out activities in support of the Salvadorian guerrilla grouped together in the FMLN.
3. 268. In its communication of 20 March 1990, the Government states that it did not know that Messrs. Berrios, Flores and Mazariego had been arrested.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 269. The Committee notes that the ANTEL telecommunications company and the Association of Salvadorian Telecommunications Workers (ASTTEL) reached an agreement in 1989, under which the members of the executive of the workers' association who had been dismissed would be reinstated, although the officials in question apparently decided not to take up their former jobs in spite of this agreement. The Committee also notes the Government's statement to the effect that it was unaware of the arrest of Messrs. Berrios, Flores and Mazariego in 1988 and notes that the signature of two of these three trade union officials appears in the documents containing the agreement to reinstate all the members of the executive of the workers' association who had been dismissed (an agreement that also extended to the three trade union officials in question).
2. 270. However, the Committee deplores the fact that once again it must observe that the Government has not sent its observations on the remaining allegations, in spite of their gravity. Consequently, the Committee urges the Government to inform it of the progress in the trial concerning the murder of the trade union official Mr. José Aristides Méndez (which commenced in July 1986) and to reply to the following allegations: the serious threats against two female members of the Coffee Union (Mrs. Castañeda and Mrs. Marta Alicia Sigüenza) in April 1988; the disappearance of the trade unionist Mr. Alberto Luis Alfaro, on 17 March 1988; the death of the trade unionists Jesús Rodas Barahona (13 April 1988) and Julio César Inglés Chinchilla (murdered in May 1988, in suspicious circumstances - according to the complainants - following his arrest by military forces); and the dynamiting of the ASTTEL premises on 30 April 1988.
3. 271. The Committee stresses that a genuinely free trade union movement can develop and trade union rights be exercised only in a climate that is free from violence, pressure or threats of any kind against trade unionists, and that it is up to governments to ensure that this principle is respected.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 272. In the light of its foregoing interim conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
   • (a) The Committee, while taking note of the Government's reply according to which an agreement had been concluded on the reinstatement of the dismissed trade union leaders of the telecommunications sector, deplores the fact that once again the Government has not sent information on the other allegations pending, in spite of their gravity.
   • (b) Consequently, the Committee urges the Government to inform it of the progress in the trial concerning the murder of the trade union official José Aristides Méndez (which commenced in July 1986) and to reply to the allegations concerning: the serious threats against two female members of the Coffee Union (Mrs. Castañeda and Mrs. Marta Alicia Sigüenza) in April 1988, the disappearance of the trade unionist Alberto Luis Alfaro on 17 March 1988; the death of the trade unionist Jesús Rodas Barahona (13 April 1988) and Julio César Inglés Chinchilla (May 1988); and the dynamiting of the ASTTEL premises on 30 April 1988.
   • (c) The Committee stresses that a genuinely free trade union movement can develop and trade union rights exercised only in a climate that is free from violence, pressure or threats of any kind against trade unionists, and that it is up to governments to ensure that this principle is respected.