Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 340, March 2006

Case No 2299 (El Salvador) - Complaint date: 11-SEP-03 - Closed

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

1. 87. At its June 2005 meeting, the Committee stressed the fact that the denial of legal personality to the Private Security Services Industry Workers’ Trade Union of El Salvador (SITRASEPRIES) was a serious violation of freedom of association and it urged the Government to recognize this trade union without delay and to keep it informed in this regard. Likewise, the Committee requested the Government to keep it informed of any new legal ruling handed down relating to the accusation of alleged robbery against trade union official, José Alirio Pérez Cañenguez, and to ensure that the 17 trade union officials dismissed received compensation (these officials had agreed on a settlement regarding compensation). Finally, as regards the alleged death threats against five officials of the Union of Textiles and Related Industry Workers of El Salvador (STITAS) by one of the owners of the J.R.C. Manufacturing S.A. of C.V. company, the Committee requests the Government, as a matter of urgency, to take measures to ensure that the competent authorities carry out an inquiry into the matter and, if the allegations are shown to be true, to punish those responsible [see 337th Report, paras. 71-73].
2. 88. In its communication of 26 August 2005, the Government states that the accusation against Mr. José Alirio Pérez Cañenguez was provisionally put aside in the absence of sufficient evidence and this trade union official, along with the other officials, received compensation. As to the Committee’s request regarding SITRASEPRIES, the Government states that, administrative avenues having been exhausted with the declaration of the inadmissibility of the appeal against the decision declaring the request for legal personality by the trade union to be groundless, the sole legal means by which the Ministry of Labour could grant legal personality to the trade union would be for the complainant to make use of the existing legal mechanisms contained in the legal system to effectively demonstrate that the decision of the Ministry contravened labour legislation. The Government states that it will keep the Committee informed of any legal ruling regarding this matter. As to the alleged threats, the Government refers to its observations of 17 May 2004.
3. 89. The Committee notes this information. With regard to the denial of legal personality to SITRASEPRIES, the Committee recalls that it had already pointed out that, in accordance with the principles of freedom of association, only the armed forces and the police can be excluded from the right to establish trade unions and all other workers, including private security agents, should freely be able to establish trade union organizations of their own choosing. Consequently, as it did at its March 2004 and June 2005 meetings, the Committee urges the Government to take the measures necessary to ensure that legal personality is granted to SITRASEPRIES without delay. Finally, the Committee requests the Government again to transmit the observations of 17 May 2004 regarding the alleged death threats against five officials of the STITAS trade union, as these observations have not been received.