Informe provisional - Informe núm. 412, Noviembre 2025

Caso núm. 3473 (Venezuela (República Bolivariana de)) - Fecha de presentación de la queja:: 11-JUN-24 - Activo

Allegations: The complainant organizations allege mass anti-union unfair dismissals of workers of the National Assembly, as well as anti-union persecution through compulsory retirement

1. 741. The complaint is contained in a joint communication dated 11 June 2024 from the Independent Trade Union Alliance Confederation of Workers (CTASI) and the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (CTV). The CTASI and the CTV sent additional information in a communication dated 24 October 2024.
2. 742. The Government sent its observations in a communication dated 5 June 2025.
3. 743. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela 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

Mass anti-union unfair dismissals of workers of the National Assembly

Anti-union persecution through compulsory retirement

1. 744. In their communications dated 11 June and 24 October 2024, the CTASI and the CTV allege, firstly, mass anti-union unfair dismissals of workers of the National Assembly and, secondly, anti-union persecution through the compulsory retirement of trade union leaders.
2. 745. The complainant organizations allege that: (i) during a public event at the legislative building on 21 January 2021, the President of the National Assembly ordered the dismissal of workers recruited to the National Assembly during the 2016–20 legislative period; (ii) those dismissals ultimately affected not only workers who had been recruited during that period, but also workers with more than ten years’ service, extending to a total of more than 1,000 workers, many of whom were members of the National Union of Men and Women Public Officials in the Legislative Career Stream and Men and Women Workers of the National Assembly (SINFUCAN), an organization affiliated with the CTASI; and (iii) these dismissals, undertaken without due compliance with the legal framework and with the aim of destroying SINFUCAN, led to a significant reduction in that trade union’s membership while strengthening a minority trade union organization that lacks autonomy and independence and supports fully the Government’s policies.
3. 746. The complainant organizations indicate that, with the intention of obtaining responses in this regard, the affected workers went to their superiors, to the Directorate-General for Human Development of the National Assembly and to the National Labour Inspectorate. They also indicate that SINFUCAN has provided guidance, advice and support to the workers and requested a meeting with the President of the National Assembly to reach a solution through dialogue. The complainant organizations indicate that, in view of the lack of response: (i) since no response has been forthcoming from the National Labour Inspectorate to the request for reinstatement, the workers supported by SINFUCAN and the CTASI requested the intervention of the Ministry of People’s Power for the Social Process of Labour to seek a solution to the issue; (ii) through a letter dated 24 February 2022 and annexed to the complaint, the Minister of Labour issued a communication establishing a special timeline for reinstatement procedures to begin in March that year; with the change in Minister in May 2022, however, that process was halted; and (iii) although the issue was also raised with the Commission for Labour Affairs and Social Security of the National Assembly, the Directorate-General for Human Rights Protection of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of the Ombudsman with the aim of securing their mediation and reaching a solution, and despite all the other action taken, the workers have not been reinstated.
4. 747. The complainant organizations attach several communications sent by SINFUCAN and the CTASI to the aforementioned bodies in 2021, 2022 and 2024, including: (i) a letter sent to the Prosecutor-General in September 2022 requesting good offices, information and the status of the complaints lodged in July and August that year by almost 100 workers in relation to the National Assembly’s contempt for the reinstatement order issued by the then-Minister; and (ii) a letter sent to the Office of the Ombudsman on 24 May 2024 stating that: (a) on 11 August 2023 the workers had gone to the Office of the Prosecutor-General, where they were informed that although the case had been assigned to a public prosecution service, after more than a year there was no official information on that assignment and a case number had not been issued; and (b) in May 2024 the status of the complaints was unknown.
5. 748. The complainant organizations allege that compulsory retirement has been used as a form of anti-union persecution and that the Government has forced trade union leaders into retirement in order to exclude them from trade union activity and weaken their organizations. The complainant organizations highlight that the compulsory retirement of trade union leaders constitutes a means of repressing the exercise of freedom of association and recall that anti-union persecution, in various forms, is not a new phenomenon in the country, as described in the report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the ILO Constitution to examine the observance by the Government of Convention No. 87, among others.
6. 749. The complainant organizations express concern at this anti-union persecution and repression and indicate that the forced retirement of trade union leaders has intensified precisely when the public administration has suffered enormous exoduses of workers owing to indecent working conditions and low wages. According to the complainants, under current legislation trade union leaders cannot be forced to retire while they hold trade union office since they enjoy trade union leave and special protection from dismissal. According to the complainant organizations, in such cases any automatic retirement decision therefore violates those workers’ rights as trade union representatives.
7. 750. The complainants assert that these measures, which display a clear intention to disrupt freedom of association throughout the public sector, have affected leaders of the Single National Trade Union of Public Healthcare Employees (SUNEP-SAS), both within its National Executive Committee and in 13 states. The complainants allege that the authorities in the public health sector have forced thousands of trade union leaders to retire, and they have attached to the complaint a non-exhaustive list of 126 SUNEP-SAS leaders who were forced into retirement between 2022 and 2024.
8. 751. The complainant organizations also allege that similar practices have been employed in the education sector to weaken the Venezuelan Union of Teachers in the State of Guárico. In that regard, they provide a list of eight leaders who they claim were forced to retire: five in 2022 and one in 2017, 2014 and 2006.
9. 752. In the communication dated 24 October 2024, the complainant organizations allege the compulsory retirement of two Caracas municipal authority workers who were leaders of the Union of Workers of the Libertador Municipality, Federal District (SUOMGIAML-DF), affiliated to the Federation of Municipal Authority Workers, a member of the CTASI. They are Ms Yenis Silva García, President the SUOMGIAML-DF, and Mr Tomás Reyes García, its Secretary-General. The complainants state that: (i) Ms Silva García’s wages were suspended without formal prior notice, and she was informed of her retirement verbally on 8 July 2024 during a meeting at the municipal authority’s Labour Relations Directorate that had been announced via telephone message; and (ii) Mr García received written notification of his forced retirement on 1 July 2024.
10. 753. The complainant organizations stress that this situation is occurring in a context where trade union action is persecuted and curtailed, as demonstrated most recently by the harassment and attempted arbitrary detention of trade union leader Mr José Texeira, member of the National Federation of Education Unions and Schools of Venezuela, an affiliate of the CTV.

B. The Government’s reply

1. 754. In its communication dated 5 June 2025, the Government indicates that for the last 24 years, workers have been protected by the Security of Employment Decree, which establishes that they cannot be dismissed, transferred or given less favourable conditions without just cause previously authorized by the Labour Inspector. The Government also states that, should such a situation arise, the worker concerned must submit a complaint within 30 days to the Labour Inspectorate of the competent jurisdiction, which will process it in line with the current legal framework.
2. 755. The Government indicates that: (i) the complaint does not clearly specify whether a specific procedure has been carried out; (ii) after an exhaustive review of the registers of the Caracas Labour Inspectorate, 221 complaints relating to alleged dismissals prior to 2025 were identified (1 complaint in 2017, 1 in 2020, 195 in 2021, 21 in 2022 and 3 in 2023); and (iii) none of the parties involved in those cases – neither the complainants nor the employers against whom the complaints were lodged – pursued the proceedings for longer than one year and, therefore, in accordance with article 201 of the Basic Labour Procedure Act, on 24 April 2025 the Labour Inspectorate declared the proceedings to have lapsed and ordered the administrative files to be closed and archived.

C. The Committee’s conclusions

1. 756. The Committee notes that, in this case, the complainant organizations allege, firstly, mass anti-union unfair dismissals of workers of the National Assembly and, secondly, anti-union persecution through the compulsory retirement of trade union leaders in several public sector bodies.
2. 757. With regard to the allegations relating to the National Assembly, the Committee observes that the complainants allege that the dismissals ordered by the President of the National Assembly in early 2021 aimed to destroy SINFUCAN; those dismissals affected more than 1,000 workers, many of whom were members of SINFUCAN, which is linked to the CTASI, causing a significant drop in its membership while strengthening a minority trade union that allegedly lacks independence and supports fully the Government’s policies. The complainant organizations state that in February 2022, the Minister of Labour issued a communication (annexed to the complaint) establishing a timeline for reinstatement procedures to begin in March that year but, given the change in Minister in May 2022, that process was halted; complaints were subsequently lodged with the National Labour Inspectorate, and communications were sent to the Office of the Prosecutor-General and the Office of the Ombudsman with the aim of obtaining information on the status of the complaints and reaching a solution. Nevertheless, the workers have not been reinstated.
3. 758. The Committee takes note that, in this regard, the Government indicates that: (i) workers cannot be dismissed, transferred or given less favourable conditions without just cause previously authorized by the Labour Inspector and that, should such a situation arise, the worker concerned must submit a complaint to the Labour Inspectorate; (ii) 221 complaints relating to alleged dismissals lodged with the Caracas Labour Inspectorate between 2017 and 2023 were identified, and examination of the administrative cases revealed that neither the workers who lodged the complaints relating to the dismissals nor the employers against whom the complaints were lodged pursued them for more than one year and, therefore, in accordance with article 201 of the Basic Labour Procedure Act, on 24 April 2025 the Labour Inspectorate declared the procedures to have lapsed and ordered the administrative files to be closed and archived.
4. 759. While noting these indications, the Committee observes that although the Government alludes to the parties’ failure to pursue the administrative cases relating to dismissals that were lodged with the Caracas Labour Inspectorate since 2017 (despite the facts alleged in this case dating from 2021), it fails to address the specific action taken with regard to the complaints of dismissals of National Assembly workers affiliated with SINFUCAN, to which this case relates, or any investigations undertaken in that regard. The Committee also observes that the complainant organizations attached a letter sent to the Prosecutor-General in September 2022 requesting good offices, information and the status of the complaints lodged in July and August that year by almost 100 workers in relation to the National Assembly’s contempt for the reinstatement order issued by the then-Minister. They also attached a letter sent to the Office of the Ombudsman in May 2024 indicating that in 2023 the Office of the Prosecutor-General had informed them that there was no official information on the assignment of those complaints to a public prosecution service.
5. 760. Recalling that where cases of alleged anti-union discrimination are involved, the competent authorities dealing with labour issues should begin an inquiry immediately and take suitable measures to remedy any effects of anti-union discrimination brought to their attention [see Compilation of decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association, sixth edition, 2018, para. 1159], the Committee: (i) requests the Government to provide detailed information on the follow-up given by the competent authorities to the complaints lodged in 2022 by the members of SINFUCAN who were dismissed from the National Assembly; (ii) urges the Government to undertake an investigation to determine whether anti-union dismissals occurred in the National Assembly and, if so, to adopt suitable remedies, and (iii) requests to be kept informed in that regard. The Committee also requests the complainant organizations and the Government to provide information on any legal action taken and, where applicable, to report on the outcomes.
6. 761. With regard to the allegations of anti-union persecution through the compulsory retirement of trade union leaders in various public sector bodies, the Committee notes that it is alleged that: (i) for some time, the Government has been forcing thousands of trade union leaders into retirement in order to exclude them from trade union activity and weaken their organizations; (ii) at least 126 SUNEP-SAS leaders were forced to retire between 2022 and 2024 (a list is provided in that connection); (iii) similar practices have been employed in the education sector to weaken the Venezuelan Union of Teachers in the State of Guárico, and the complainants provide a list of eight leaders who they claim were forced to retire (five in 2022 and one in 2017, 2014 and 2006); and (iv) in 2024 two workers – the President and the Secretary-General of the Union of Workers of the Libertador Municipality, Federal District – were forced to retire from the Caracas municipal authority.
7. 762. The Committee regrets that the Government has not provided any response in this regard. Recalling that not only dismissal, but also compulsory retirement, when imposed as a result of legitimate trade union activities, would be contrary to the principle that no person should be prejudiced in his or her employment by reason of their trade union membership or activities [see Compilation, para. 1109], the Committee urges the Government to provide, without delay, a detailed response to the allegations, bearing in mind the information submitted by the complainant organizations, which includes details of more than 100 affected workers.
8. 763. The Committee regrets and notes with concern that, several years after the events alleged in this case occurred and more than one year after the complaint was presented, the information provided by the Government does not confirm that measures intended to permit the exploration of possible solutions with the complainant organizations have been adopted. The Committee urges the Government to adopt the necessary measures to engage in dialogue on the matters to which this complaint relates, including as part of the social dialogue forum to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry established under article 26 of the ILO Constitution to examine observance by the Government of Convention No. 87, among others, in which the CTASI and the CTV participate and whose fifth session is due to take place.
9. 764. Lastly, with regard to the alleged harassment and attempted arbitrary detention of trade leader Mr José Texeira, the Committee recalls that those allegations were examined under Case No. 3451 and therefore refers to the recommendations formulated therein.

The Committee’s recommendations

1. 765. In the light of its foregoing interim conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
   • (a) The Committee: (i) requests the Government to provide detailed information on the follow-up given by the competent authorities to the complaints lodged in 2022 by the members of the Legislative Career Stream and Men and Women Workers of the National Assembly (SINFUCAN) who were dismissed from the National Assembly; (ii) urges the Government to undertake an investigation to determine whether anti union dismissals occurred in the National Assembly and, if so, to adopt suitable remedies; and (iii) requests to be kept informed in that regard. The Committee also requests the complainant organizations and the Government to provide information on any legal action taken and, where applicable, to report on the outcomes.
   • (b) The Committee urges the Government to provide, without delay, a detailed response to the allegations of compulsory retirements, bearing in mind the information submitted by the complainant organizations, which includes details of more than 100 affected workers.
   • (c) The Committee urges the Government to adopt the necessary measures to engage in dialogue on the matters to which this complaint relates, including as part of the social dialogue forum to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry in which the Independent Trade Union Alliance Confederation of Workers (CTASI) and the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (CTV) participate and whose fifth session is due to take place.