Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 344, March 2007

Case No 2390 (Guatemala) - Complaint date: 30-SEP-04 - Closed

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

1. 79. The Committee last examined this case at its June 2006 meeting [see 342nd Report, paras 551–556]. On that occasion, the Committee made the following recommendation: “As to the allegations concerning the dismissal of 52 workers at Horticultura de Salamá in 1997, following the formation of the Trade Union of Horticultural Workers of Salamá (SINTRAHORTICULTURA), and all the legal proceedings in which the reinstatement of the workers had been ordered, the Committee … requests the Government and the complainant organization to inform it as to whether the complainant organization has withdrawn the legal proceedings it had initiated.” In this respect, the Committee takes note of the Government’s communications of 4 August and 11 October 2006, in which it states that, according to the Second Labour Court, most of the parties who brought the case have withdrawn the legal proceedings they had initiated and that two workers remain to be reinstated in their jobs but have not been because the home address is unknown. The Committee takes note of this information and requests the Government to do everything in its power to see that the said workers are reinstated.
2. 80. As to the allegations regarding the dismissal of four workers shortly after the formation of the trade union, the pressure exerted on them, the persecution and constant harassment of union members and the act of anti-union discrimination against members and leaders of the Union of Workers of NB Guatemala (SITRANB) in the NB Guatemala Company, the Committee requested the Government to take measures to ensure that an independent inquiry was carried out and, if it was determined that the dismissals were linked to the formation of the trade union organization and the other anti-union acts, to ensure that the workers were immediately reinstated and paid wages owed and that sufficiently dissuasive sanctions were imposed on the enterprise for the anti-union acts committed. The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not sent its observations in this respect and requests it to do so without delay.
3. 81. As to the allegations presented by the Union of Workers of the Technical Institute for Training and Productivity (STINTECAP) concerning acts of interference, pressure and threats against the workers to force them to leave the trade union, the Committee requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that an independent inquiry was carried out into the alleged facts and to keep it informed in that regard, as well as to inform it of the result of the Tripartite Committee’s attempts at conciliation. The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not sent its observations in this regard and requests it to do so without delay.