Definitive Report - Report No 321, June 2000

Case No 2041 (Argentina) - Complaint date: 30-JUL-99 - Closed

Allegations: Refusal by the provincial authorities to convene a meeting for the purpose of electing members of a joint committee

1. 95. This complaint is contained in a communication dated 30 July 1999 from the Federation of Trade Unions of Municipal Workers of Santa Fe Province (FESTRAM).
2. 96. The Government sent its observations in a communication dated 12 January 2000.
3. 97. Argentina 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. The complainant's allegations

1. 98. In its communication of 30 July 1999, the Federation of Trade Unions of Municipal Workers of Santa Fe Province (FESTRAM) alleges that, from January 1991 onwards, local and municipal leaders in Santa Fe Province refused to appoint representatives for the purpose of forming the joint negotiating committee instituted under the terms of Provincial Law 9996 of 1996 (according to the complainant, this committee, consisting of eight representatives of municipal and local authorities for the employers' side and eight representatives of FESTRAM for the employees' side, issues resolutions and formalizes agreements and accords on various matters), and that the provincial authorities have not met their legal obligation to convene an annual meeting to allow local officials and leaders to appoint representatives. Thus, according to the complainant, this collective bargaining body for municipal and local government employees has been paralysed.

B. The Government's reply

1. 99. In its communication of 12 January 2000, the Government states that the Santa Fe provincial authorities convened a meeting for 12 November 1999 of all the local and municipal leaders involved for the purpose of electing the joint committee to which Law No. 9996 refers. The Government supplies a copy of the relevant documents relating to the convocation and arrangements for the meeting.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 100. The Committee notes that in the present case, the complainant alleges that since 1991 no meeting was convened for the purpose of appointing representatives of local and municipal authorities in Santa Fe Province to sit on the joint negotiating committee required under provincial law.
2. 101. In this regard, the Committee notes with interest the fact that, according to the Government's reply, the complainant and the provincial authorities have reached an agreement on electing such representatives, and the fact that the Government supplies a copy of the agreement in question.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 102. In the light of its foregoing conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to decide that this case does not call for further examination.