Definitive Report - Report No 325, June 2001

Case No 2108 (Ecuador) - Complaint date: 06-NOV-00 - Closed

Allegations: Violation of the right to participate in international trade union meetings

1. 354. The complaint is contained in a communication from the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) dated 16 November 2000. The Government sent its observations in communications dated 15 January and 14 May 2001.
2. 355. Ecuador 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. 356. In its communication of 6 November 2000, the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF) alleges that the Latin American Coordinating Body of Banana Workers’ Unions (COLSIBA), an organization made up of banana workers’ unions from Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Nicaragua, met on 18 and 19 August 2000 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, with the Danish affiliate of the IUF, Specialarbejderforbundet i Danmark (SiD), and that on 24 August Mr. Orlando Paredes Valenzuela, Consul of Ecuador in Honduras, acting in his official capacity, contacted the coordinator of COLSIBA, Mr. Germán Edgardo Zepeda, to ask for the names of the Ecuadorians who had participated in this meeting. He also asked for information concerning the content of the discussions held at the meeting. Mr. Valenzuela said: “I am speaking on behalf of the Embassy of Ecuador and my Government has officially requested me to ask your organization the names of the Ecuadorians who participated in the regional meeting at San Pedro Sula, in order to contact them in Ecuador to find out about their activities; we wish you to know that our intention is to provide them with information for any future meeting they may participate in.”
2. 357. The IUF adds that it found out that the Government of Ecuador had formally contacted the Honduran authorities to ask if the Honduran immigration authorities would provide them with the same information. It appears that this request was most correctly refused.
3. 358. The IUF considers that these investigations constitute improper interference in the right of assembly of trade unions at the international level and in their right to participate fully in the activities of organizations such as COLSIBA and the IUF. In its view, these investigations violate the right to freedom of association by threatening and intimidating the trade unionists of Ecuador for their participation in international trade union meetings.

B. The Government’s reply

1. 359. In its communications of 15 January and 14 May 2001, the Government states that Ecuador is the world’s leading banana exporter, a fact that makes it possible to absorb a wide range of workers both directly and indirectly in the production, packing and transport of the product. In addition, banana exports constitute the second highest official source of foreign exchange revenue for the national economy. In this context, it is imperative to specify that in the interior of the country, there are no reports of individual or collective disputes between workers and employers in this sector, owing to the excellent contractual provisions and specific regulations currently in place, a fact that has made it possible to achieve the standards of production known worldwide.
2. 360. As can be observed – the Government continues – only efficient foreign policy, the responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, makes it possible to remain competitive and to retain Ecuador’s position in the fruit markets. It also ensures that the production of the fruit, the economic income and the jobs generated from banana production are not destabilized. In this connection, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs only advises, channels and contributes to foreign policy on this subject at the state level, fundamentally respecting the banana producers, exporters and workers’ forums and associations.
3. 361. The Government categorically denies the unfounded allegations and assertions to which the complaint refers, maintaining that they are suppositions, that there is no basis to the insinuation of interference in trade union matters, that an attempt to arrange possible consular technical support has been blown out of proportion, twisting and distorting its true objective of providing technical and logistic assistance or support, and that an openly and unnecessarily hostile attitude has been shown towards the tripartite work enshrined in the international standards of the ILO. The Government confirms itself to be a faithful adherent of the precepts of ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, and requests that the case be filed.
4. 362. Documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which the Government appends, show that the Ecuadorian Consul in Tegucigalpa contacted a number of trade union leaders to request, without any type of threat or pressure, the public report on the meeting of the Latin American Coordinating Body of Banana Workers’ Unions (COLSIBA); they also indicate that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador should take into account all the interests involved in shaping international policy relating to banana exports, should be informed and up to date on matters relating to banana production and should offer Ecuadorian trade unionists up-to-date material concerning the banana sector at any future events they may attend. The coordinator of COLSIBA offered to provide the information, although he did not do so, and he refused to give the names of the Ecuadorian delegates who attended the meeting in Tegucigalpa, claiming that it was confidential information. Neither the Ministry nor the Consulate requested the Honduran immigration authorities to provide a list of the Ecuadorian participants in the meeting and the Directorate of Migration of Honduras could be requested to provide a certificate in this respect. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not know the names of the Ecuadorian delegates who attended the meeting in question. The Government submits a statement from the General Direction of Population of Honduras, mentioning that the staff of the Ecuadorian Embassy in Honduras did not intervene, and made no verification about Ecuadorian citizens who attended the COLSIBA meeting in San Pedro Sula.

C. The Committee’s conclusions

1. 363. The Committee observes that in this complaint, the complainant organization alleges that the fact that the Consul of Ecuador in Honduras asked the coordinator of the Latin American Coordinating Body of Banana Workers’ Unions (COLSIBA) and the Honduran immigration authorities about the content of the discussions that took place during an international trade union meeting and wanted to know the names of the Ecuadorian trade unionists who had participated, served to threaten and intimidate those trade unionists and violates the right to participate in international trade union meetings.
2. 364. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that: (1) requests for information from the coordinator of COLSIBA were intended to provide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador with information concerning all the interests involved in shaping international policy relating to banana exports, to inform and bring itself up to date on matters relating to banana production, and to provide Ecuadorian trade unionists with up-to-date material relating to banana production at any future events they may attend, possibly offering them technical and logistic consular support; (2) the Consul contacted the representatives of COLSIBA and not, as is maintained in the complaint, the Honduran immigration authorities; (3) there were no threats or pressure and there was no intention to interfere in trade union matters; (4) the staff of the Ecuadorian Embassy in Honduras did not make any verification about Ecuadorian citizens who attended the COLSIBA meeting.
3. 365. The Committee stresses the importance it gives to the principle that the right to affiliate with international organizations of workers implies the right, for the representatives of national trade unions, to maintain contact with the international trade union organizations with which they are affiliated, to participate in the activities of these organizations and to benefit from the services and advantages which their membership offers [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 4th edition, 1996, para. 635], which includes the participation in international trade union meetings.
4. 366. However, the Government having clarified that the request for information by the Consul of Ecuador in Honduras was intended to bring the Ministry of Foreign Affairs up to date on issues relating to banana production and that there were no anti-union designs but rather just a wish to receive information and possibly to provide technical and logistic support to Ecuadorian trade union delegates, the Committee will not pursue its examination of this case.

The Committee's recommendations

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