Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 265, June 1989

Case No 1417 (Brazil) - Complaint date: 25-JUN-87 - Closed

1. 283. The Committee has examined this case on two occasions, most recently at
   • its February-March 1989 Session. (See 262nd Report of the Committee on Freedom
   • of Association, paras. 230-244, approved by the Governing Body at its 242nd
   • Session.)
2. 284. Since then the Government has sent communications dated 17 February and
3. 14 April 1989 in reply to the allegations still pending in this case.
4. 285. Brazil has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of
   • the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but it has ratified the Right
   • to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. Previous examination of the case

1. 286. The pending allegations on which this complaint is based referred to
   • the Government's use of the military and police forces to prevent strikes in
   • the ports and oil refineries based on wage claims (acting on the basis of
   • Legislative Decree No. 1632 of 4 August 1978) and to the murder of Mauro
   • Pires, leader of the Union of Vehicle Drivers and Allied Workers of San
   • Andrés, on 4 September 1987, an attack perpetrated on trade union leader José
   • Barbosa dos Santos by two individuals who shot at him from a car, and death
   • threats made by telephone against union leader Paulo Pereira. More recent
   • allegations made in December 1988 and January 1989 concerned the murder on 22
   • December 1988 of Francisco Alves Mendes Filho, union leader of the rural
   • workers of Xapuri, in the State of Acre, in the Amazon region, who was
   • president of the rubber industry trade union (SERINGA) and national leader of
   • the Workers' Central Organisation (CUT).
2. 287. The Government had not replied to most of these allegations by the
   • February-March 1989 Session. However, as regards the strikes held in March
3. 1987 in the port, maritime and petroleum sectors, the Government had stated
   • that the new Brazilian Constitution adopted on 5 October 1988 did not prohibit
   • strikes in essential activities, but provided that legislation shall define
   • essential services or activities and make provision for the pressing needs of
   • the population.
4. 288. At its February-March 1989 meeting, the Committee had adopted the
   • following recommendations:
     • a) The Committee deeply regrets the fact that the Government has failed to
   • send all of the information on the pending allegations: the murder of trade
   • union leaders Mauro Pires on 4 September 1987 and Francisco Alves Mendes Filho
5. on 22 December 1988, the attack on trade union leader José Barbosa dos Santos
   • and the death threats received by trade union leader Paulo Pereira, and urges
   • the Government to furnish the missing information.
     • b) While noting the provisions contained in the new Constitution concerning
   • the right to strike and essential services, the Committee requests the
   • Government to keep it informed of the adoption of any legislation defining or
   • listing essential services and of any repeal or amendment of Legislative
   • Decree No. 1632/78.
   • B. The Government's replies
6. 289. In its first reply dated 17 February 1989, which reached the Office
   • after the end of the February-March session of the Committee, referring to the
   • murder of Francisco Alves Mendes Filho on the night of 22 December 1988, the
   • Government stated that, upon being informed of the threats received by this
   • union leader, the Governor of the State of Acre had decided to appoint
   • military police officers to protect the physical integrity of this person.
   • Once this deplorable act had been perpetrated, the Secretariat for Public
   • Security, which is the investigating body, entrusted a special delegate with
   • the investigation and reinforced civil and military police contingents in
   • order to elucidate the facts. This police delegate had conducted an inquiry on
7. 23 December 1988. At the same time, the Ministry of Labour had also decided
   • that the federal police should join the investigation in the State of Acre. A
   • team of experts from Sao Paulo had been sent there in order to provide the
   • investigators with reinforcements. The Medical Faculty of Sao Paulo had
   • conducted investigations using material collected when the body was exhumed,
   • which enabled it to identify several suspects. Following the police
   • investigation, the case had been referred to the local judiciary. The Public
   • Prosecutor's Office had decided to prosecute Darcy Alves Pereira, Darly Alves
   • da Silva and Jardey Pereira. The first two had already been arrested and had
   • confessed to their crime, while the third was in hiding. The Government
   • affirmed that the Secretariat for Security was making every effort to capture
   • the fugitive and that it had taken all the necessary measures to elucidate the
   • crime in order to punish the guilty parties.
8. 290. In a subsequent reply dated 14 April 1989, referring to the
   • intervention of the armed forces in the strikes held in the ports and oil
   • refineries in March 1987, the Government states that strikes in these
   • activities were prohibited at the time, since such activities were considered
   • as essential in so far as they involved the supply of fuel and food and in
   • view of the public security nature of maritime and port activities. The
   • purpose of the army's presence in Petrobrás was to protect the public property
   • of a semi-public enterprise belonging to the public administration and to
   • secure free access to work for the persons concerned. According to the
   • Government, there had been no incidents involving striking workers and/or
   • union leaders. To conclude, as regards the seamen, the Government stated that
   • in accordance with isolated agreements with certain enterprises the navy had
   • been called in as reinforcements to secure free access to work and to protect
   • port installations. There had been no acts of violence but the strike had been
   • declared illegal by the labour courts.
9. 291. As regards the murder of Mauro Pires in Diadema in 1987 and of
   • Sebastiao Teixeira do Carmo in Mauá in July 1988, according to the Government,
   • police investigations have been completed and the files have been handed to
   • the judiciary.
10. 292. As regards the alleged attacks on José Barbosa dos Santos, Paulo
    • Pereira and Oswaldo Cruz, the Government states that the Union of Vehicle
    • Drivers, of which these persons are members, issued a statement through its
    • lawyer to the effect that, in the absence of evidence, no measures had been
    • taken regarding the alleged threats. The Government adds that these events had
    • not been entered in the police records.
11. 293. Lastly, referring again to the murder of Francisco Alves Mendes, the
    • Government states again that the joint action undertaken by the Governor of
    • the State of Acre and the federal and military police have made it possible to
    • elucidate the facts and punish the guilty parties. It then reiterates the
    • detailed information previously given in this respect and adds that a further
    • inquiry has been opened with a view to identifying other persons who
    • participated directly or indirectly in this homicide.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 294. Before broaching the substance of the case, the Committee welcomes the
   • fact that, contrary to what has occurred before, the Government has replied
   • specifically to the various allegations pending in this case.
2. 295. The Committee regrets, however, as regards the intervention of the
   • armed forces in order to put an end to strikes in the ports and oil
   • refineries, that the Government merely states that such activities, involving
   • as they do the supply of fuel and food, were essential in nature under the
   • terms of the Brazilian law then in force, and that consequently the strike had
   • been declared illegal.
3. 296. In this respect, the Committee can only recall that it has always
   • considered that a strike is one of the essential means through which workers
   • and their organisations should be able to promote and defend their economic
   • and social claims and that national legislation should not allow suspension or
   • prohibition of the right to strike, except in cases in which interruption of
   • work due to a strike would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the
   • whole or part of the population.
4. 297. As regards the allegations concerning alleged attempts on the physical
   • integrity of members of the Union of Vehicle Drivers, the Committee notes
   • that, according to the Government, no files have been opened by the police
   • concerning these cases. In these conditions, the Committee considers that this
   • aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
5. 298. The Committee greatly deplores the murder of trade union leaders Mauro
   • Pires in 1987 and Sebastiao Teixeira do Carmo and Francisco Alves Mendes Filho
6. in 1988. While noting the information supplied by the Government, according to
   • which police investigations led to the indictment of three persons, two of
   • whom have been arrested while the third has gone into hiding, and that a
   • further inquiry has been opened in order to identify all of the persons who
   • might have participated directly or indirectly in the homicide of Francisco
   • Alves Mendes Filho, and that the three cases are now pending before the
   • courts, the Committee must emphasise the fact that it has stated on
   • innumerable occasions that a climate of violence such as that surrounding the
   • murder of trade union leaders constitutes a serious obstacle to the exercise
   • of trade union rights and that such acts require severe measures to be taken
   • by the authorities. (See Digest of Decisions and Principles of the Freedom of
   • Association Committee of the Governing Body of the ILO, para. 76.)
7. 299. The Committee therefore urges the Government to make every effort to
   • guarantee the personal safety of trade union leaders. It also requests it to
   • communicate the text of the verdicts handed down against the perpetrators of
   • the acts referred to above.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 300. In the light of its foregoing conclusions, the Committee invites the
   • Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
     • a) The Committee welcomes the fact that, contrary to what has occurred
   • before, the Government has furthered the procedure in this case by supplying
   • detailed information in reply to the complainants' allegations.
     • b) As regards the intervention of the armed forces in 1987 to disrupt
   • strikes in the ports and oil refineries, the Committee deeply regrets this
   • action by the Government which, in its opinion, is contrary to the principles
   • of freedom of association. The Committee recalls that a strike is one of the
   • essential means through which workers and their organisations should be able
   • to promote and defend their economic and social claims and that the suspension
   • of prohibition of the right to strike is only acceptable if the interruption
   • of work due to a strike would endanger the life, personal safety or health of
   • the whole or part of the population.
     • c) As regards the murder of the three union leaders referred to by name by
   • the complainants, Mauro Pires, Sebastiao Teixeira do Carmo and Francisco Alves
   • Mendes Filho, the Committee greatly deplores the perpetration of such acts and
   • firmly recalls that a climate of violence such as that surrounding the murder
   • of trade union leaders constitutes a serious obstacle to the exercise of trade
   • union rights. It therefore appeals to the Government to make every effort
   • necessary to guarantee the personal safety of trade union leaders.
     • d) The Committee also requests the Government to communicate the text of
   • the verdicts handed down against the perpetrators of these acts.