Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 350, June 2008

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

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

1. 47. The Committee last examined this case at its meeting in November 2007 [see 348th Report, paras 53–57]. On that occasion, the Committee made the following recommendations on the matters that were still pending.
2. 48. The Committee requested the Government to keep it informed of the final outcome of the pending appeals of Mr Rodas in the High Court of Medellín (Labour Division) against the legal action taken by Cervecería Unión SA to suspend his trade union immunity.
3. 49. As regards the allegations concerning the closure of several Bavaria SA plants, which led to a drastic decline in the number of union members, in relation to which, according to the Government, the Territorial Directorate of Cundinamarca, Inspectorate No. 10, had launched an administrative inquiry into the matters raised in the complaint, the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that the inquiry produces concrete results in the near future.
4. 50. The Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that union dues are collected without delay, on behalf of SINTRAFEC, from non-union workers employed by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia who benefit from the collective agreement.
5. 51. In communications dated 17 December 2007 and 18 and 19 February 2008, the Government sent the following information.
6. 52. With regard to the legal proceedings relating to Mr José Everardo Rodas, the High Court of Medellín ordered Cervecería Unión SA to reinstate Mr Rodas in his post, with the payment of all wages owed for the period from his dismissal to his reinstatement. The Committee notes this information.
7. 53. With regard to the allegations made by the Single Federation of Workers (CUT) dated 15 February 2006 concerning the closure of several Bavaria SA plants, which led to a drastic decline in the number of union members, in relation to which, according to the Government, the Territorial Directorate of Cundinamarca, Inspectorate No. 10, had launched an inquiry [see 344th Report, para. 45], the Government states in its present communications that no investigation of the aforementioned company has been conducted. The Committee therefore requests the Government to launch an independent inquiry into these allegations without delay so that it can be established whether the plant closures were based on anti-union grounds.
8. 54. As regards the collection of union dues, on behalf of SINTRAFEC, from non-union workers employed by the National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia who benefit from the collective agreement, the Government points out that the allegations have been examined and the Supreme Court of Justice denied the right to collect union dues for the 1984–87 period. In this respect, the Committee observes that the allegations do not refer to the collection of union dues for the 1984–87 period but are new allegations to the effect that no dues are being collected at present from non-union members who benefit from the collective agreement. The Committee therefore requests the Government once again to take the necessary steps to ensure that, where the collection of dues is provided for under the collective agreement in force, this is effected without delay and requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect.