Definitive Report - Report No 380, October 2016

Case No 2957 (El Salvador) - Complaint date: 23-MAY-12 - Closed

Allegations: The complainant organization alleges threats and the detention of trade unionists in the context of a dispute relating to collective bargaining in the Ministry of Finance and excessive delays in collective bargaining

1. 400. The Committee last examined this case at its October–November 2015 meeting and, on that occasion, presented a provisional report to the Governing Body [see 376th Report, paras 425–435, approved by the Governing Body at its 325th Session (October–November 2015)].
2. 401. The complainant organization submitted additional information in a communication of 5 February 2016.
3. 402. The Government sent its observations in a communication of 17 December 2015.
4. 403. El Salvador has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), the Workers’ Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135), and the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151).

A. Previous examination of the case

1. 404. At its October–November 2015 meeting, the Committee made the following recommendation on the matters still pending [see 376th Report, para. 435]:
   • With regard to the alleged death threats, regretting that the Government has not provided information about the trade unionist whose full name it already knows, and that the complainant trade union has not provided the additional information requested concerning the identities of the two other trade unionists concerned, the Committee: (i) firmly expects that the Government will follow up, with the trade union, the allegation of death threats against Mr Jorge Augusto Hernández Velásquez; and (ii) again requests the complainant trade union to furnish the Government with the full names of the other trade unionists mentioned in its complaint so that the Government can pursue the matter and inform the Committee of the outcome.

B. Additional information from the complainant union

1. 405. In its communication of 5 February 2016, in response to the Committee’s request, the complainant union submits the names of the other unionists that it alleges have been affected by threats of being burnt alive by road transport workers affected by the labour stoppage: Ms Krissia Meny Guadalupe Flores (Women’s Secretariat), Ms Odila Dolores Marroquín Cornejo (General Secretary of the Union Governing Body), Mr Daniel Rivas and Mr José Manuel Lima Hernández.

C. The Government’s reply

1. 406. In its communication of 17 December 2015, the Government indicates that the National Civil Police provided protection for the persons mentioned by the complainant union, who were inside the Customs Administrator’s Office at the time when the crowd of road transport workers was trying to enter and attack them. The Government states that the police kept watch over the unionists until a staff vehicle of the Directorate-General of Customs arrived to evacuate them, which was done by an alternative route, as a security measure for these people. The Government specifies that, according to the National Civil Police, at no time did these people receive threats of being burnt alive.

The Committee’s conclusions

1. 407. The Committee observes that the only matter pending in relation to this case concerns the allegation of death threats against various unionists by road transport workers that are alleged to have been affected by a stoppage of activities in the context of a collective labour dispute. The Committee observes that the Government states that, according to the police, the alleged death threats did not occur but that, in the face of imminent risk of attack by the road transport workers, it protected and kept watch over the above unionists, and also evacuated them so as to ensure their security. Furthermore, the Committee observes that the complainant union does not state that it has made criminal complaints concerning the alleged death threats. In these circumstances and on the understanding that the Government will continue to provide all necessary protection measures, as appropriate and in full collaboration with the complainant organization, the Committee will not pursue its examination of this allegation.

The Committee’s recommendation

1. 408. In the light of its foregoing conclusions and on the understanding that the Government will continue to provide all necessary protection measures, as appropriate and in full collaboration with the complainant organization, the Committee invites the Governing Body to consider that this case requires no further examination.