Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 348, November 2007

Case No 2046 (Colombia) - Complaint date: 17-AUG-99 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 53. The Committee last examined this case at its March 2007 meeting [see 344th Report, paras 41–45]. On that occasion, the Committee made the following recommendations on the matters that remained pending.
2. 54. The Committee requested the Government to keep it informed of the final outcome of the pending appeals of Mr Rodas against the legal action taken by Cervecería Unión SA to suspend his trade union immunity. The Committee notes the Government’s information that the High Court of Medellín (Labour Division) has still not handed down a ruling. The Committee recalls that justice delayed is justice denied, and hopes that the judicial authority will hand down a ruling in the near future. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this regard.
3. 55. As regards the closure of the COLENVASES plant, which led to the dismissal of 42 workers and seven union officials in violation of their trade union immunity and of the labour ministry ruling that authorized the closure but only after implementing clauses 14 and 51 of the collective agreement, the Committee notes the Government’s information that the case currently before the administrative disputes courts has not yet been resolved, and that, of the seven union officials who had initiated judicial proceedings before the Council of State, four withdrew between September 2003 and May 2006. The Committee also notes that the Government sent a copy of the ruling of the council of State. In this regard, the Committee observes that it emerges from the text that the Council of State considered that the question of the dismissal of the trade union leaders officials without lifting their trade union immunity should be examined by the labour courts and that the Council of State did not pronounce itself on the violation of clauses 14 and 51 of the collective agreement in force at the time of the closure. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the complainant organization to indicate whether legal suits have been filed before the labour courts to obtain reintegration and the implementation of the collective agreement clauses.
4. 56. As regards the allegations concerning the closure of a number of plants of BAVARIA SA, which resulted in a drastic decline in the number of union members, in relation to which, according to the Government, the Territorial Directorate of Cundinamarca, Inspectorate 10, had launched an administrative inquiry into the matters raised in the complaint, the Committee notes that the Directorate in question has been asked to keep it informed. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the inquiry produces concrete results in the near future and to keep it informed in that regard.
5. 57. The Committee takes note of the communication from the Trade Union of Workers of the National Coffee Growers’ Federation of Colombia dated 26 June 2007, alleging that ordinary check-off of union dues is still not being carried out for workers despite the fact that they are covered by the collective agreement. The Committee notes that this matter has been examined on a number of previous occasions [see the 327th, 338th and 342nd Reports], and, as it did on those occasions, requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that ordinary union dues are collected without delay from non-union workers employed by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia who benefit from the collective agreement, on behalf of SINTRAFEC. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this regard.