Allegations: Murder and threats against union leaders and members in the
construction sector, inadequacy of the measures taken and ineffectiveness of the
investigations, maintenance of the registration of pseudo unions and the progressive entry
of some pseudo-unions into official institutions, to the detriment of the complainant
federation
- 670. The complaint is contained in a joint communication by the General
Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) and the Federation of Civil Construction Workers
of Peru (FTCCP) dated 20 August 2012. In a communication of 29 November 2013, the
Confederation of Workers of Peru (CTP) made allegations related to the initial
complaint.
- 671. The Government provided its observations in communications dated 23
October 2012, 17 September, 15 November and 20 December 2013, and 3 February 2014.
- 672. Peru 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 complainants’ allegations
A. The complainants’ allegations- 673. In their communication of 20 August 2012, the CGTP and the FTCCP
allege the murder of union leaders and workers in the construction sector for the sole
reason that they belonged to the FTCCP. The alleged murders were committed in the
context of extortion by mafia and criminal groups posing as workers’ unions, which offer
“protection” or “security” to businesses and charge workers for being able to work, and
force them to give up their membership of the FTCCP, and instead to join their
pseudo-unions. This situation of violence and threats, which has already been examined
by the Committee on Freedom of Association, and which began in 2006, has also since the
time of the previous Government involved police officers, whose complicity with these
criminal groups has given rise to the linking of criminality and corruption. This has
created a climate of intimidation and violence, which seriously hinders union
activities. The struggle for the control of civil construction works also frequently
results in confrontations between mafia groups organized under the previous
Government.
- 674. More specifically, the complainant organizations allege that in 2012
these criminal groups murdered the following union leaders:
- – Carlos Armando
Viera Rosales, organizing secretary of the Callao Civil Construction Union, on
Friday, 10 February 2012 at 7.30 a.m. by three hired killers who fired four bullets
at him as he left home to carry out his daily union duties. This leader had had the
courage to denounce the mafia groups in Ventanilla which, with political protection
and infamously using the honourable name of scaffolding workers, engage in extortion
from engineers and construction companies.
- Police officers in the Ventanilla
Criminal Investigation Department, in coordination with officers of the tactical
action (SUAT) and intelligence services of the Callao regional police force,
succeeded in identifying and capturing the suspected murderer of Armando Viera
Rosales, who was detained by judicial order in the Sarita Colonia Prison in Callao
and was released three months later.
- – Guillermo Alonso Yacila Ubillus,
Deputy Secretary-General of the Callao Civil Construction Union and
Secretary-General of the Callao branch of the CGTP, who was murdered by shots fired
by hired killers as he left the union offices to go home at approximately 7.45 a.m.
on 3 July 2012. The police in the province of Callao are currently investigating the
case, but the results of the investigation are not yet known.
- – Rubén Snell
Soberón Estela, Deputy Secretary-General of the Chiclayo Union and general
coordinator of the Lambayeque regional section of the FTCCP, who was murdered on 7
August 2012 at 7.30 a.m., on his way from his home to a meeting with unemployed
civil construction workers at the Elías Aguirre stadium in Chiclayo. Two criminals
shot him directly in the head and chest, causing his immediate death. This occurred
at a time when the FTCCP was publicly denouncing death threats against its
Secretary-General, Wilmar Zegarra Bonilla, in which certain elements of the national
police and the illegal organization led by the criminal known as “Viejo Paco” were
reported to be involved.
- – The complainant organizations emphasize that up
to now those responsible for the murders committed in 2012 have not been identified,
despite the evidence that they are the result of illegal action by the criminal
mafia, whose members are known even to the national police.
- 675. The complainant organizations also allege the murder of the
following members of the FTCCP: (1) Jorge Antonio Vargas Guillén, murdered on 19 August
2011, in the district of Pacasmayo – La Libertad, whose alleged murderers have been
identified as Alberto Rojas Paucar and Ana Cecilia Guevara Biminchumo; (2) Luis Esteban
Luyo Vicente, murdered on 31 January 2012, in the district of Imperial, Cañete province,
for which Adrián Rojas Ore and Artemio López Flores have been identified as responsible,
acting in complicity with others who have not been identified. In both cases, the
Homicide Investigation Department of the DIRINCRI of the Peruvian national police handed
the perpetrators over to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to be charged by the judiciary,
which, however, appears not to have taken any action; and (3) Rodolfo Alfredo Mestanza
Poma, murdered on 17 June 2011 in the district of Ancón (Lima), where he was engaged in
building a road from Ancón to the city of Pativilca (Huacho), with solid evidence of the
responsibility for the crime of pseudo-union leaders. The Homicide Investigation
Department of the DIRINCRI of the Peruvian national police is investigating the case.
The complainant organizations note that the outcomes of the investigations and
proceedings in relation to these serious crimes against workers show the lack of
interest and ineffectiveness of the authorities, as well as the ineffectiveness of the
Public Prosecutor’s Office and the judiciary.
- 676. The complainant organizations emphasize that the present Ministry of
Labour and Social Protection is resisting carrying out a review of the innumerable
registrations of pseudo unions by the previous Government, which include criminal groups
that did not meet the minimum legal requirements, such as having construction workers in
their membership.
- 677. According to the complainant organizations, violence in construction
work has increased recently. Although, at the request of the complainants, the current
Government has demonstrated the political will to eradicate this problem by creating a
Multi-Sectoral Commission to review the situation and propose solutions, the activities
of the criminal groups have increased, as demonstrated by the alleged murders. The
Multi-Sectoral Commission can, where necessary, require public and private entities and
offices to provide statistical reports and other information necessary for it to
discharge its functions, investigate informal labour in the construction sector and
violence in construction work.
- 678. The FTCCP has proposed measures for the elimination of violence in
the construction sector, including: the review of the registration of unions, to ensure
that they are only composed of construction workers, and not of criminals; the
establishment of a single national register of construction workers; the
decentralization and provision of infrastructure and financial support to the Department
for the Protection of Civil Construction Works (DIVPROC) to ensure that it has national
coverage; and effective coordination with the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the
judiciary. However, action has not been taken on these proposals.
- 679. The criminal mafias, organized under the previous Government, use
their cover as “registered unions” to make inroads into institutions. They replaced the
representative of the complainant organization on the board of the National Construction
Industry Training Service (SENCICO), a public institution. The pseudo-unions are also
planning to destabilize the complainant federation, and are trying to enter the
CONAFOVICER, with the tacit acceptance of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection,
where their claims are being processed.
B. The Government’s reply
B. The Government’s reply- 680. In its communication of 23 October 2012, the Government reaffirms
that the State of Peru, in accordance with international law, and as a legal entity
governed by the relevant international and national standards, does not promote
“pseudo-unions”, but encourages, defends and promotes freedom of association, and the
right of all citizens to associate freely, as set out in the Magna Carta
(Constitution):
- Article 28. The State recognizes the right
of workers to join trade unions, to engage in collective bargaining and to strike.
It ensures their democratic exercise:
- 1. It guarantees
freedom for forming trade unions.
- 2. It encourages
collective bargaining and promotes peaceful settlement to labour
disputes.
- Collective agreements are binding in the
matters concerning their terms.
- 3. It regulates the
right to strike so that it is exercised in harmony with social interest. It
defines exceptions and limitations.
- 681. In addition, the Collective Labour Relations Act (Supreme Decree No.
010-2003-TR) provides:
- Section 2. The State recognizes the
right of workers to organize, without previous authorization, for the study,
development, protection and defence of their rights and interests and the social,
economic and moral improvement of their members.
- Section
3. Membership shall be free and voluntary. The employment of a worker may not be
made conditional upon membership, non-membership or renunciation of membership, nor
shall the worker be obliged to join a union, or prevented from so doing.
- Section 4. The State, employers and their representatives shall
refrain from any action which limits, restricts or diminishes, in any way, the right
of workers to organize, and from interfering in any way with the establishment,
administration or operation of unions established by workers.
- 682. The Government refers to the specific measures that the State has
taken to combat violence in civil construction. Aware of the problem, in 2010 the
Peruvian State created, through the Ministry of the Interior, a special police unit to
investigate and try to control these crimes, with the title of the Specialized Police
Department for the Protection of Construction Works (DIVPROC) of the Peruvian national
police. Its mission is to guarantee the execution of civil works and to prevent
fraudulent civil construction workers from engaging in extortion against businesses in
the sector.
- 683. This Department initially operated in the city of Metropolitan Lima,
but at the request of the unions new units have been established in cities in the
regions of Lambayeque, Ica, and recently in Ancash.
- 684. The Government points out that, in general, the violence in civil
construction has its origins in the disputes between unions to control construction
works through jobs for their members. This situation has led to complaints by union
members against one another, including accusations of attempted murder and threats to
their safety and health (as well as many others), which the appropriate authorities are
currently investigating. The Government indicates that the State, through the Office of
the President of the Council of Ministers and Supreme Decision No. 173-2012-PCM, has
established a Multi-Sectoral Commission, chaired by the Ministry of Labour and
Employment Promotion, and including representatives of the ministries of the interior,
housing, transport and justice, and of regional and local governments. The purpose of
the Multi-Sectoral Commission is to prepare a report on the civil construction sector
with a view to promoting measures to formalize labour and eliminate violence in the
sector. The technical secretariat of the Multi-Sectoral Commission is provided by the
General Directorate of Labour of the Ministry of Labour. The Commission was established
on 4 July 2012, when it was agreed that:
- – a representative of the Public
Prosecutor’s Office would have a standing invitation, in view of the importance of
the penal aspects covered by the Commission;
- – a representative of the
Peruvian Chamber of Construction (CAPECO) and representatives of the most
representative unions would be invited to the following sessions;
- – both
preventive and enforcement action would be taken. The preventive action would
consist of: the establishment of a register of works, to specify the location of
works and the number of jobs; and the establishment of a register of construction
workers, based on a certification process with a view to the professionalization of
the sector; and
- – tripartite management would be adopted for the
standardization of skills, vocational training, etc.
- 685. The Multi-Sectoral Commission approved a workplan at its meeting on
18 July 2012. It also decided to set up a working group comprising the Directorate of
Employment, the CAPECO and the most representative unions, to evaluate the process of
the standardization and accreditation of skills; and a working group comprising the
Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior, DIVPROC and SENCICO to prepare
an enforcement strategy.
- 686. Meetings have been continuing to propose and implement action in
partnership with the unions, with greater priority being given to the registration of
unions.
- 687. As the Committee on Freedom of Association can see, the State
promotes freedom of association, taking care not to interfere in the establishment,
administration or functioning of unions. The claims of the complainant organizations are
not therefore logical, as it is the State that ensures that there are no acts that
impede the right to organize, and that union activities are carried out appropriately,
in accordance with the law.
- 688. The allegations in the present case pertain to criminal matters, for
which reason the complainants should apply to the relevant authority, namely the Public
Prosecutor’s Office, which is competent to initiate investigations and level charges
against those responsible. These crimes do not fall within the mandate of the
Committee.
- 689. With regard to the allegations pertaining to the registration of
unions, the Government explains the procedure, in which the initial entry in the
register of unions (an administrative process) generates an administrative file number,
which is unique. Subsequent entries (changes to the statutes and in the executive board)
are separate administrative procedures, each governed by the specific requirements set
out in the Single Text on Administrative Procedures (TUPA) of the Ministry of Labour and
Employment Promotion. These subsequent procedures are initiated by the union, and are
assigned a registration number and added to the file created for the original
registration of the union, so that there is a record of all the union’s acts in relation
to the same administrative authorities.
- 690. The Government emphasizes that these procedures are considered in
the TUPA of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion to be automatically
approved, in accordance with section 17 of Supreme Decree No. 010-2003-TR, the single
complete text of the Collective Labour Relations Act, and section 22 of the regulations
under the Act, approved by Supreme Decree No. 011-92-TR. Peruvian jurisprudence has
indicated that this type of procedure is based on the presumption of truthfulness, which
means that the administrative authorities have to assume from then on that the documents
and declarations submitted by unions are genuine. Therefore, in accordance with section
31(1) of Act No. 27444, the General Administrative Procedures Act, such procedures are
considered to be approved based on the mere submission of the required documents,
provided that they meet the requirements established by the TUPA.
- 691. The following documents therefore have to be submitted (as set out
in points 18 and 19 of the TUPA): an application in the form of a sworn declaration, in
the appropriate format, indicating the name and address of the enterprise in which they
operate, where appropriate; and originals, or copies certified by a public notary, or if
not by the justice of the peace of the district, of the following additional
documents:
| TUPA
18: Unions | TUPA 19: Federations and
confederations |
| ■ Minutes of the constituent general
assembly of the union, which shall include the given names, family names,
identity documents and signatures of those present, as well as the title of
the union, the approval of the statutes and the list of those elected to the
executive board, indicating the length of their mandate. | ■
Minutes of the constituent general assembly of the federation or
confederation, which shall include the given names, family names, identity
documents and signatures of those present, as well as the title of the union
organization, the approval of the statutes and the list of those elected to
the executive board, and the length of their mandate. |
| ■ Statutes (typed). | ■ Statutes
(typed). |
| ■ Lists of the members with their given
names and family names, profession, position or specialization, national
identity document number and certificate of military service, where
applicable, and date of membership. | ■ The list of the
affiliates (unions or federations), as appropriate, duly registered by the
Administrative Labour Authority, indicating the registration number or the
registration decision, and the office where they are
registered. |
>
- 692. The Government adds that it is therefore clear that the TUPA merely
establishes formal requirements, under the terms of which the responsible authority
makes an assessment based on a review of the documents submitted. If a union provides
all the necessary documentation, the authority issues a certificate of registration of
the union. This procedure is based on section 17 of the single complete text of the
Collective Labour Relations Act, which provides that the union shall be entered into the
corresponding register kept by the labour authority. Registration is a formal procedure,
not a constituent act, and cannot be refused, except in the case of failure to comply
with the respective requirements. It should also be noted that the registration of a
union confers upon it trade union status, allowing it to conduct the activities
described in the single complete text of the Collective Labour Relations Act. It should
also be noted that this procedure is in accordance with Article 2 of ILO Convention No.
87 on freedom of association, which provides that:
- Workers and
employers, without distinction whatsoever, shall have the right to establish and,
subject only to the rules of the organisation concerned, to join organisations of
their own choosing without previous authorisation.
- 693. For all the above reasons, the Government requests the Committee to
set the case aside.
- 694. In its communication of 17 September 2013, the Government provides
information supplied by the Second Office for Expeditious Decisions of the Second Office
of the Provincial Corporate Criminal Prosecutor of Cañete relating to the investigations
into the death of Luis Esteban Luyo Vicente. According to this information, the
following have been detained for their active participation in the confrontation
involving the use of firearms led by the brothers Manuel and Edwin Sanchez Villa, and
Francisco and Alfredo Vargas Cambillo: Adrián Rojas Oré, Juan Artemio López Flores,
Leopoldo Dante Escobar, Jorge Luis Gutiérrez Villalobos, Jorge Espilco Vilcapuma, Jorge
Villa Huamán and Steven Gabriel Flores Ormeño. These men attacked the civil construction
workers of Imperial, fatally wounding Luis Esteban Luyo Vicente, who died on 31 January
2012. In addition, it reports the detention of Héctor Augusto Villaruvia Lázaro for
crimes against the public administration, violence and resisting authority. At present,
the case is at the second stage of common criminal proceedings, that is the intermediary
stage, awaiting the determination of the date and time of the trial by the Second Court
of Preparatory Investigation once criminal charges have been brought against the
presumed perpetrators at the corresponding hearing.
- 695. In its communications of 15 November and 20 December 2013 and 3
February 2014, the Government provides information on the investigations into the deaths
of Carlos Armando Viera Rosales, Guillermo Alonso Yacila Ubillus, Rodolfo Alfredo
Mestanza Poma, Rubén Snell Soberón Estela (this case involves a considerable number of
accused) and Jorge Antonio Vargas Guillén, which have been entrusted to the appropriate
Offices of the Public Prosecutor, namely: that of Carlos Armando Viera Rosales by the
13th Office of the Provincial Criminal Prosecutor of Callao; Guillermo Alonso Yacila
Ubillus by the Sixth Office of the Provincial Criminal Prosecutor of Callao; Rodolfo
Alfredo Mestanza Poma by the Office of the Criminal Prosecutor of Huara-Huacho; Rubén
Snell Soberón Estela by the Second Office of the Corporate Provincial Prosecutor of
Chiclayo – José Leonardo Ortiz; and Jorge Antonio Vargas Guillén by the Office of the
Provincial Prosecutor of the Second Office of the Joint Corporate Prosecutor of
Pacasmayo.
- 696. The reports attached by the Government indicate that it has been
possible to identify and detain the suspected murderers of Carlos Armando Viera Rosales,
Luis Esteban Luyo Vicente and Rubén Snell Soberón Estela; that in the case of Jorge
Antonio Vargas Guillén, one of the murderers was sentenced to 20 years in prison; that
there is plausible evidence that the three persons identified had an interest in killing
Guillermo Alonso Yacila Ubillus; and that the two murderers of Rodolfo Alfredo Mestanza
Poma have not been identified. In its communication dated 3 February 2014, the
Government provides very detailed information on the status of investigations and of the
numerous judicial proceedings in relation to the murders of Guillermo Alonso Yacila
Ubillus and Rubén Snell Soberón Estela.
C. The Committee’s conclusions
C. The Committee’s conclusions- 697. The Committee notes with deep concern the allegations made by the
CGTP and the FTCCP relating to the murder in 2012 of three union leaders in the civil
construction sector (Carlos Armando Viera Rosales, Guillermo Alonso Yacila Ubillus and
Rubén Snell Soberón Estela) and three union members (Jorge Antonio Vargas Guillén, Luis
Esteban Luyo Vicente and Rodolfo Alfredo Mestanza Poma), as well as the climate of
violence, threats and extortion by criminal mafia groups and pseudo-unions. According to
the allegations, police officers have been involved in the situation since the previous
Government, and the violence is sometimes caused by confrontations between organized
mafia groups seeking control of construction projects. The complainant organizations
also allege a lack of interest and effectiveness by the authorities and the impunity of
the groups committing the crimes. The complainant organizations further allege the
maintenance by the authorities of the registration accepted by the previous
administration of a number of pseudo-unions, and the progressive entry of a number of
the latter into official institutions, to the detriment of the FTCCP.
- 698. With regard to the allegations of the murder of three union leaders
and three union members, the Committee, while deeply deploring these acts, notes the
Government’s explanations that generally the reason for the violence in civil
construction lies in the disputes between unions for the control of construction works
through jobs for their members. The Committee observes the Government’s indication that
to combat the problem of violence in civil construction: (1) the Specialized Police
Department for the Protection of Construction Works of the Peruvian national police was
set up in 2010 to investigate and attempt to control these crimes, ensure the execution
of civil construction works and prevent false civil construction workers from engaging
in the extortion of companies; the Department operated initially in Lima and, at the
request of the unions, new units have been established up to now in cities in three
regions; and (2) a Multi Sectoral Commission was established in 2012 composed of
representatives of five different ministries and of regional and local governments,
which has issued a standing invitation to a representative of the Public Prosecutor’s
Office and to representatives of the most representative unions and of the Peruvian
Chamber of Construction; it was also agreed in 2012 to establish a tripartite working
group to assess the process of the standardization and accreditation of skills, and a
working group comprising different authorities to define an enforcement strategy. The
Multi-Sectoral Commission is adopting a preventive approach by establishing a register
of construction works, specifying the location of the works and the number of jobs, and
a register of construction workers based on a certification process with a view to the
professionalization of the sector, as well as adopting a tripartite management system
for the standardization of skills, vocational training, etc. However, the Multi-Sectoral
Commission is also adopting a repressive approach involving measures for the eradication
of violence. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Public
Prosecutor’s Office is competent to initiate the respective investigations, including
when the complainants lodge complaints concerning crimes, for which reason the
Government considers that the present case does not lie within the competence of the
Committee. In this regard, the Committee wishes to point out that the violent criminal
acts alleged by the unions in this case, while having occurred against the background of
an inter-union struggle, affect union leaders and employers in the exercise of their
activities, and that they therefore lie fully within its function of the defence of
freedom of association and the right to organize; furthermore, the alleged murders are
prolonging a situation of violence in the construction sector which has given rise, for
example, to an earlier report by the Committee [see its 368th Report, Case No. 2883,
paras 799–810]; and lastly, it is clear that the rights of workers, employers and their
organizations cannot be exercised properly in a climate of violence, threats and
fear.
- 699. The Committee notes that the detailed information from the Public
Prosecutor’s Office on the status of the investigations, provided by the Government,
reveals that: (1) the perpetrators of the murders of Carlos Armando Viera Rosales, Rubén
Snell Soberón Estela (according to the Government, this case involves a large number of
accused), Luis Esteban Luyo Vicente and Jorge Antonio Vargas Guillén have been
identified and detained (in the case of the latter trade unionist, one of the murderers
was sentenced to 20 years in prison); (2) there is plausible evidence that the three
persons identified had an interest in killing the trade unionist Guillermo Alonso Yacila
Ubillus; and (3) the perpetrators of the murder of Rodolfo Alfredo Mestanza Poma have
not yet been identified. The Committee firmly expects that in the near future the
current criminal investigations will identify all of the perpetrators and instigators of
the murders, that responsibilities will be clearly identified and that those found
guilty will be severely punished. The Committee requests the Government to keep it
informed in this regard, and also on the progress of the criminal proceedings.
- 700. The Committee appreciates the measures taken to combat the violence
in the construction sector (the Multi-Sectoral Commission and its various working
groups; the division of the Specialized Police Department for the Protection of
Construction Works of the Peruvian national police), which are aimed at engaging in
coordinated preventive action and enforcement by all the central and local authorities,
with the participation of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the most representative
unions and employers’ organizations. The Committee invites the Government to continue
taking measures in the framework of the existing tripartite dialogue. The Committee,
however, observes the intolerable nature of the situation of violence in the sector and
the need for further measures for its eradication. In this regard, the Committee
expresses its deep concern at the extent and breadth of the divergence between the
reasons advanced by the complainants and by the Government concerning the causes of the
violence. The complainants ascribe the violence to criminal mafia groups and
pseudo-unions which engage in extortion, while the Government considers that the
violence is motivated by disputes between unions to control civil construction works
through jobs for their own members. The Committee requests the Government to provide
additional information in support of its explanations and suggests that the Public
Prosecutor’s Office be instructed to conduct a thorough investigation into the reasons
for the violence in the construction sector and those responsible for it, and that all
the necessary penal action is taken based on the findings of these investigations. The
Committee wishes to emphasize in this respect the principle that freedom of association
can only be exercised in conditions in which fundamental human rights, and in particular
those relating to human life and personal safety, are fully respected and guaranteed
[see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 2006,
para. 43]. The Committee also recalls the principle that the rights of workers’ and
employers’ organizations can only be exercised in a climate that is free from violence,
pressure or threats of any kind against the leaders and members of these organizations,
and it is for governments to ensure that this principle is respected [see Digest, op.
cit., para. 44].
- 701. With regard to the complainants’ allegations that the labour
authorities are maintaining the registration of pseudo-unions that engage in extortion,
the Committee understands the Government’s explanations that, in accordance with
Convention No. 87, the legislation provides for the automatic establishment of unions
based on their fulfilment of formal requirements, which essentially consist of the
presentation of documents (minutes of the assembly, the list of members of the executive
board, etc). However, the Committee recalls that in the case of such serious crimes of
extortion and murder as those in the present case, the judicial authorities would have
the power to dissolve a union if the criminal liability were proven of the members of
its official bodies.
- 702. In relation to the allegation of the entry into official
institutions of certain pseudo-unions engaged in extortion, the Committee considers that
the complainant organizations have not supported their allegations with sufficient
information and particulars, and invites them to do so.
- 703. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to send without delay
its observations with regard to the recent allegations made by the CTP, contained in its
communication dated 29 November 2013, concerning various matters, including the murder
of union leader Miguel Díaz Medina, and in which it accuses the police of attempting to
falsely implicate the union of civil construction workers in acts of extortion and
blackmail in complicity with criminals.
The Committee’s recommendations
The Committee’s recommendations- 704. In the light of its foregoing interim conclusions, the Committee
invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
- (a) While it
deplores and expresses concern at the seriousness of the alleged acts of extortion
and the murder of six trade unionists (and one more reported in a recent
allegation), and observes that the present case is within the context of an
inter-union struggle, the Committee firmly expects that in the near future the
current criminal investigations will lead to the identification of all the
perpetrators and instigators of the murders of the three union leaders and three
union members in the construction sector, that the responsibilities will be clearly
identified and that those found guilty will be severely punished. The Committee
requests the Government to keep it informed in this regard, and also on the progress
of the criminal proceedings. On the other hand, the Committee welcomes the measures
taken by the Government concerning, inter alia, the register of workers and works in
the construction sector, and invites the Government to continue taking measures in
the framework of the existing tripartite dialogue.
- (b) The Committee
requests the Government to provide additional information relating to its
explanations and those of the complainant organizations concerning the causes of the
violence against union leaders in the construction sector, and suggests that the
Public Prosecutor’s Office be instructed to conduct a thorough investigation into
the reasons for the violence in the construction sector, and that all the necessary
penal action is taken based on the findings of the investigations.
- (c) In
relation to the allegation of the entry into official institutions of certain
pseudo-unions engaged in extortion, the Committee considers that the complainant
organizations have not supported their allegations with sufficient information and
particulars, and invites them to do so.
- (d) The Committee requests the
Government to provide without delay its observations with regard to the recent
allegations made by the CTP, dated 29 November 2013, concerning various matters,
including the murder of union leader Miguel Díaz Medina, and the accusation that the
police have wished to falsely implicate the union of civil construction workers in
acts of extortion and blackmail in complicity with criminals.
- (e) The
Committee draws the special attention of the Governing Body to the extreme
seriousness and urgent nature of the matters dealt with in this case.
