Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 338, November 2005

Case No 2330 (Honduras) - Complaint date: 09-MAR-04 - Closed

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

1. 173. At its June 2005 meeting, the Committee requested the Government to communicate the result of the lawsuit filed by the Minister of Education against the official, Nelson Edgardo Cálix, for slander, libel and defamation, and the result of the application for the protection of constitutional rights entered by the complainant organizations against the judgments, which, it is alleged, deny the right of these organizations to represent their members. Also, while the Committee noted with interest the settlement reached on 10 July 2004 between the Government and the complainant organizations, and in particular the clauses on salaries and the deduction of trade union dues, the Committee requested the Government to indicate whether by virtue of that non-reprisal clause the sanctions (fines) on the president of COPEMH and against COPEMH and COPRUMH and the application for suspension of these organizations’ legal personality have been abandoned or set aside [see 337th Report, paras. 80-82].
2. 174. In its communication of 25 July 2005, the Government states that the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic has abandoned the lawsuit begun to suspend the legal personality of COPEMH and COPRUMH. With regard to the fines of 500 lempira imposed on these organizations by the administrative authority, the judicial authority has still not handed down a decision, the trade union officials having ignored the invitation of the Attorney-General’s Office to come to an amicable arrangement and thereby to be able to eliminate the fine; according to the Government, these fines are to do with social anarchy and disorder by the education trade union officials. Moreover, the Supreme Court of Justice has not handed down a decision on the appeal for cassation filed by the Ministry of Education personally against the decision that would acquit trade union official Nelson Edgardo Cálix of slander, libel and defamation. Also, the Supreme Court confirmed the other decisions appealed by the complainant organizations through application for protection of constitutional rights and has confirmed the legal decisions that found lack of legitimacy of the organizations to represent the personal rights of their members.
3. 175. The Committee notes this information and notes with interest that the authorities have abandoned a lawsuit intended to suspend the legal personality of the complainant organizations. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of any new decisions in relation to this case. The Committee invites the Government and the trade union organizations to find a negotiated solution to the unresolved issues before the judicial authority based on the non-reprisal clause arising out of the conciliation settlement of 10 July 2004 [see 335th Report, para. 878] and on Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, ratified by Honduras and applied fully to teaching staff, according to which the complainant organizations should be able to represent their members without any problem whatsoever. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect.