Suites données aux recommandations du comité et du Conseil d’administration - Rapport No. 392, Octobre 2020

Cas no 2840 (Guatemala) - Date de la plainte: 22-FÉVR.-11 - Clos

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

1. 53. The Committee recalls that this case concerns alleged anti-union transfers, obstruction and interference by the authorities in the registration of trade unions and interference by the employer in the establishment of 16 trade unions. The Committee last examined this case at its November 2012 meeting [see 365th Report, paras 1025–1063], and on that occasion it formulated the following recommendations: (i) regarding the alleged anti-union transfer of Mr Javier Adolfo de León Salazar, leader of SITRADICMP, it requested the Government to ensure that the trade union and its members could carry out their legitimate activities without being subjected to intimidation and persecution; (ii) it requested the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the swift registration of the 16 trade unions that have applied since 2009; and (iii) with regard to the alleged failure to recognize the Union of Employees and Allied Workers of the Los Ángeles and El Arco Estates (STAA), it requested the complainant organization to correct the errors in its Constitutive Act so that it could be recognized, and requested the Government, once the errors in the STAA’s Constitutive Act had been corrected, to take the necessary measures for the said trade union to be recognized and immediately registered. The Government sent its observations in communications dated 31 October 2012, 27 May 2019 and 23 April 2020.
2. 54. Regarding the alleged anti-union transfer of the General Secretary of the Union of Workers of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (SITRADICMP), Mr Javier Adolfo de León Salazar, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that: (i) the Public Prosecutor’s Office employs the practice of transfers to improve the performance of public servants; (ii) the legality of his transfer, and its alleged anti-union nature, were examined by the Constitutional Court, which, in its decision of 29 April 2009 (joint rulings Nos 234-2009 and 242-2009) upheld the validity of the transfer decision; (iii) the Public Prosecutor’s Office found that Mr León Salazar had committed a labour offence punishable by dismissal for not having complied with the transfer order; and (iv) the application for dismissal lodged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office was, however, rejected by the Constitutional Court, which, in its decision of 25 November 2013, ordered the immediate reinstatement of Mr León Salazar in the same post he had held previously and the payment to him of the wages outstanding for the time between his dismissal and his actual reinstatement. Noting that Mr León Salazar was reinstated in the same post he had held previously and observing that the complainant organization has not provided additional information regarding alleged anti-union actions against SITRADICMP since the submission of the complaint in 2011, the Committee will not pursue its examination of this matter.
3. 55. Regarding the recognition and registration of the Union of Employees and Allied Workers of the Los Ángeles and El Arco Estates (STAA), the Committee observes that the complainant organization has not supplied the requested information, and consequently the Committee will not pursue its examination of this matter.
4. 56. With regard to the alleged failure to register 16 trade union organizations, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government according to which: (i) nine trade union organizations from the list in question were registered by the labour administration between 2010 and 2011 and are currently active (the Union of Municipal Workers of Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, the Union of Municipal Public Servants of San Lorenzo Suchitepéquez, the Union of Municipal Workers of the Ixchiguan Municipal Authority in the Department of San Marcos, the Union of Technical and Administrative Workers at the Western Ministry of Education, the Union of Administrative Workers of the Second Land Registry of Quetzaltenango, the Union of Workers of the Chinautla Municipal Authority, the Union of Workers of the Municipal Employment Plan, the Union of Workers of the Tax Administration Supervisory Authority, and the Union of Workers at the Education Directorate of the Department of Quetzaltenango); (ii) four trade union organizations withdrew their applications for registration (the Ramón Adán Sturtze Union of Workers, the Union of Workers at San Marcos National Hospital in the Department of San Marcos, the National Union of Workers at the Executive Secretariat of the National Coordinating Authority for Disaster Reduction, and the United Workers’ Union of the Municipality of San Pedro Sacatepéquez in the Department of San Marcos); and (iii) three applications for registration are non-existent (the Union of Workers at Imperia Investments and Services SA, the Union of Financial Managers at the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, and the Union of Administrative and Financial Managers at the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance). The Committee notes the information. While observing that it does not have any details regarding the reasons that led several trade union organizations to withdraw their applications for registration, the Committee notes that it has not received any information from the complainant organization regarding the allegations in question since February 2012. In the light of the foregoing, the Committee considers this case closed and will not pursue its examination.